The Stoic Samurai
by The Leader of Monkeys
Summary: An otherworldly power took Ichigo away from his home in the final showdown with Aizen. Now with the realization that everyone he knew & loved may very well be dead, the orange haired shinigami has made the choice to lock away his emotions, in the hopes of no longer feeling the pain of loneliness. Can red haired woman offer Ichigo the family he's lost? IchixKushi. Godlike!Ichi
1. One Tough Nut To Crack

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto**

**Yep, Naruto is the first Jinchuuriki in this story, so it's a bit of a AU story.**

**Ichigo'll be Godlike in this story as well.**

**The pairing is IchigoxKushina. And maybe Mikoto might get in there. **

**Ichigo can't have enough girls. Na, joke. Two's the max. **

* * *

_Who would've thought this High School punk would rip through space and time itself, and end up in a completely different world. It had all started against Aizen. Sosuke Aizen had given Ichigo the chance to evolve, to move onto a higher platform. He wanted Ichigo to at least reach the level of that of a three-dimensional being, like he was. Aizen needed a challenge. He was like a deadly saiyan that could not be sated with just storming up to the royal palace to kill the spirit king without at least testing his powers out on the so-called saviour of the world first. Aizen's arrogance was knocked down a peg when Ichigo proved to be almost too formidable even for him. In a desperate bid to keep up with Ichigo, Aizen demanded the hogyoku give him more power. _

_With the boost of power the hogyoku gave him Aizen fired a powerful energy beam at Ichigo who countered with his signature move Getsuga Tenshou. Both clashed violently in the centre and created an otherworldly power in the shape of a sphere that took Ichigo away from his home and to the dimension he now found himself ensnared in. _

_His family and friends looked as good as fucked. _

* * *

One year had passed.

One year since the stoic one awoke to find himself in a completely different setting to the one he had come to know as home. The structure of the buildings was entirely different. They looked smaller but also looked a lot more colourful than the ones from the stoic orange haired warrior's world.

When his eyes first glanced at his surroundings he realized his arms and legs were chained up and that he was in a dark room known as something called an interrogation room in a village known as Konoha.

The stoic teenager wanted to know first and foremost were his dear sisters alright, but opted not to ask these people that. He honestly doubted that the people of this world knew anything of his origins.

They demanded to know why a mind reader of theirs could not pierce his mind, to which he only shrugged and answered, "I apologize. I have no memory of what happened previously."

Needless to say, that wasn't the right answer.

The next thing the boy endured was the torture of a scary looking tall man with scars all over his face and a bandana with a leaf symbol engraved into it. Every one of these 'shinobi' had those leaf symbols embedded into their headbands. They somewhat reminded the boy of a certain 2nd diversion squad within the soul society.

The man, whose called himself Ibiki, persistently tried to break the emotionless boy down with the most sadistic threats that would've made any other man that wasn't the stoic one whimper in fear for those terrifying life-scarring events to never happen to them. Ever.

But the boy stoically took it all and even felt asleep on Ibiki.

Even as the Shinobi desperately tried to keep the stoic man awake by leaving water to drop onto his head and even refused to give him food the man endured it all without a hint of emotion on his face. They couldn't even tell whether he was starving or not.

He would not break.

…Just as much as he would not relinquish his hold on that thin black blade with a square-like design as its hilt and chains wrapped around it and the man's right arm, as if the blade and the man were one in the same. They were like two pieces of the same puzzle that couldn't be complete without the other.

Just how powerful was that orange spiky haired man wearing the tattered black shihakusho as if he had just gotten out of a tremendous fight.

**The Stoic Samurai **

**Chapter One: One Tough Nut To Crack **

An old man with liver spots on his face and grey hair at the sides of his head sat at a desk wearing a red and white kimono suit with a triangle shaped hat on his head. His name was Hiruzen Sarutobi and he was the Sandaime Hokage of the village that held the mysterious orange haired man 'prisoner'.

Well… he was Hokage once again.

The reason for that was because last year Hiruzen selected a new Hokage in the hopes of retiring to that luxurious life with his wife who was unfortunately no longer with him.

It was all because of a masked man who located the Kyuubi no Yoko (nine-tailed fox) and commanded it to attack Konoha on the convenient time that the Yondaime Hokage at the time, Minato Namikaze, was out of the village overseeing his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, giving childbirth to their son, Naruto Uzumaki.

It was something of a ritual ceremony within Kushina's clan that their babies were born in a cave so their children may be blessed with good fortune.

It was ironic that tragically struck the Uzumaki-family that night. Reason being was because after Minato had gotten wind of the attack of the Kyuubi no Yoko, he immediately flashed over to Konoha with his patented Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique).

With the help of a giant toad summoned up by the golden haired wonder, Minato was able to teleport himself and the Kyuubi away from Konohagakure.

They didn't know what transpired but they could tell it wasn't good. A very angry Kushina who used that rage as a mask to hide her sadness stormed up to the Hokage and his men before they could rush off and insist lord Minato-sama in his endless struggle to subdue the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko.

What Kushina told them shell-shocked them to beyond belief.

And the truth was confirmed once Hiruzen and his men arrived at the scene of the Bijuu-dama (tailed-beast bomb) exploding in a fiery explosion. The little bundle of joy laid on the ground with his father's motionless body next to him, Minato's pinkie finger bonelessly intertwined with Naruto's.

They were utterly heartbroken. Minato honourably sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi inside of himself and baby Naruto's body, if the note he had left behind was any indication.

It was.

And even the bizarreness didn't stop there.

"I say we execute that enigma who you have chained up in the basement." A black spiky haired old man advised to Hiruzen and two other old people wearing a white kimono, a black robe over the top of the white kimono, and a wooden walking stick in his hand.

He was Danzo Shimura, Shinobi no Yami (The darkness of Shinobi).

Hiruzen frowned, "He's an unarmed twenty year old man by the looks of it Danzo."

"An unarmed twenty year old who won't let go of his blade no matter how hard we try to pry it from him." Danzo returned dryly, making Hiruzen's frown deepen, "Keep in mind it's been a year, has it not? And the boy's yet to die from dehydration. Strange? I think so."

"I agree with Danzo." Another tan-skinned man spoke up with grey (old man-style) hair and glasses on his face. He wore a dark brown kimono, and sandals, "He could be surviving this long in the hopes of gaining our trust to kidnap the Jinchuuriki-boy."

"Now, now, Homura, Danzo, let's not get too ahead of ourselves." An elderly woman insisted in a calm manner and with her grey hair done up in a single bun. Hiruzen smiled lightly at the elderly woman who wore ear-rings, a dark green kimono dress, a white scarf, and geta sandals on her feet. "Perhaps the boy could be of use to us. He doesn't seem overly bitter towards any of us."

The woman's eyes seemed permanently closed.

"Perhaps," Danzo droned calmly, "The condition he was when he first appeared in Konoha makes me believe he was in a battle. But when interrogated the man's mental defences did not falter in the slightest. Maybe it would be for the best if he were handed over to me. I'm sure I could break through his defences."

"You're not getting another child to turn into your puppet Danzo." Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at Danzo, but Danzo's poker face held true.

"Then what do you supposed we do with him?" Danzo questioned.

Hiruzen reached into his drawer and pulled out a pipe before lighting it up and inhaling tobacco smoke from it. He then exhaled calmly, "I suppose we allow him to live among us under the careful eye of the ANBU until he can be trusted."

"Is that wise Hiruzen?" Homura spoke up incredulously, "There's no telling of the consequences if he were to be allowed to live in the leaf village."

Hiruzen hummed in agreement with Homura, "That's a very verified point. However I'm going to go with my gut on this one. The reason being is the man has been in there for one year, has not once given us any information on where he came from, and even endured Inoichi's psychological treatment on his mind. He could prove to be a most valuable asset if given the chance."

"I hope you know what you're doing Hiruzen." Danzo warned, turning around to leave Hiruzen's office, "Because for all we know the man could be feigning ignorance in order to get close to any confidential issues he could use against us."

"Point made Danzo." Hiruzen agreed impassively, smoking more of his pipe, "It's why I've decided the ANBU'll shadow the man until he proves he's trustworthy." Danzo nodded reluctantly, Hiruzen was the Shinobi no Kami (God of Shinobi) after all. His judgement should be trusted to some extent.

XxX

(Outside of Konoha)

It was a bright sunny day within Konohagakure no Sato. The huge monument was built behind the hokage tower which kids rushed over to so they could attend the academy located next to the Hokage's tower. It was as if the four faces of the pervious hokages were built behind the village so they could watch over the village even in death.

Those faces were inspirational to many young ninja becoming what they were today.

The peace was briefly disturbed by the sound of a crying baby being carried towards the hokage's tower by his mother, "Okay, Naruto-chan, mommy's going to feed you after she makes a visit to hokage-sama, dattebane!"

The woman was absolutely stunning! She had long gorgeous crimson red hair falling to her lower back. She wore a white t shirt underneath a sleeveless long baby blue dress that emphasized her womanly-hourglass figure. Over that she had on a pink blouse. And her breasts were a modest DD-cup.

This woman was Kushina Uzumaki. She was the wife of the Yondaime hokage who died sacrificing his life for the sake of Konohagakure. Right now Kushina was carrying baby Naruto, trying to soothe him by rubbing his little back consolingly.

Baby Naruto always reminded Kushina of her husband Minato since he had the exact same bright blond spiky hair and shining blue eyes looking at the world in fasciation. Just like his dad.

"Mommy's not going anywhere, Naruto-chan. She's gonna watch you be as strong as your father." Kushina assured baby Naruto who wore bright orange coloured dungarees over a bright yellow t shirt with orange sandals on his little feet. His most distinctive trait was the three whisker-marks on each of his cheeks.

No one knew why though, except for Kushina and the Sandaime hokage.

That was for the best. The last thing Kushina wanted was for her son to be feared for what he was. She did not want Naruto to become what his father made him. She still held a slight resentment towards Minato for doing that, but she could understand why he did it. There was no way to defeat the Kyuubi without doing what Minato did.

Kushina let out a sigh, "C'mon Naruto-chan, let's get mommy resigned. Then I'll feed ya, okay, sweetie. That's a promise, dattebane!"

xXx

(Torture Chamber)

'_Ichigo… how long do you plan on staying here?'_

A calm masculine voice spoke within the chained up orange haired man's head.

The stoic orange haired man merely opened up his closed eyes, "Is there a way back home old man?"

The rhetorical question left the old man within his head speechless as the cold air penetrated the man's skin.

The man eventually let out a sigh, "_I'm afraid to inform you that Aizen may've very well-."_

"I'm not that naive old man." The stoic one interrupted the old man with his facial expression never changing. "I've stayed within this chamber for a year now, of my own free will."

The way that man in the trench coat explained it left the orange haired man wondering would they chase after him if he were to break out and leave altogether. He could do so if he pleased. But he wasn't a killer; he would not want to have to remorselessly slaughter the innocent shinobi just for doing their job.

Shinobi – konoha – Chakra – Hidden Villages – Missing ninjas - These were the things the interrogator attempted to probe from Ichigo's mind. They wanted to know what village he was allied to. It turned out that there was more than just one in this strange world. That made sense to the stoic warrior.

He stretched out his senses and could feel small, medium or huge amounts of reiryoku flowing through the veins of many, depending on the person of course. Some were as strong as Chad and the other humans with special powers in his own world, some reached the level of a fifth seat, some were as strong as a vice-captain and very few could be considered captain-classed shinobi.

He figured those were the ones that led their respective villages. It was something called a kage or whatever the man babbled on about.

Oddly enough the orange haired man felt huge masses of reiatsu assembled together to form something. Was it a beast he sensed? These masses of energy did not feel as strong as Ichigo, but they were a lot stronger than the humans from his own world. On the contrary a lot of them were captain-level.

Even still, those huge concentrated beings paled in comparison to old man Yamamoto and to Aizen.

This was something Ichigo and his zanpakuto, Zangetsu, had discussed every now and again. Those nine concentrated beings of Chakra. Just what were they and why did they feel as if they were shoved into a human being? At least a few were. It was weird.

Spontaneously, light hit the orange haired man's face. He merely tilted his head upward to see an old man in white robes with a triangle shaped hat on his head walking into the chamber with three people with animal-like masks on their faces by his side in a protective manner.

Hiruzen reached Ichigo before speaking up, "So, my boy, are you ready to leave this place?"

"Are you offering me freedom?" Ichigo asked stoically.

Hiruzen smiled kindly, "Yes. You've served your time remarkably; it would be quite treacherous of me to leave you chained up here for the rest of your life."

"I appreciate that old man." Ichigo breathed out before breaking one of the chains that held him up, putting the ANBU on-guard who quickly drew their swords and held them at Ichigo, "My apologises." Ichigo broke the other chain, freeing himself, "It's been forever since I've last stretched out my arms." Ichigo rubbed his wrists, his black sword held up.

The ANBU looked towards the Hokage as if asking permission to attack. Hiruzen calmly raised his hand, ordering them to stand down, "Hmm. That's quite the strength you have. Tell me… if you could've escaped all of this time why is that you chose to stay chained up."

Ichigo graced Hiruzen with a solid gaze, "You aren't a threat. No one here is. Thus I saw no reason to raise my sword against you. That is all." He had his code of honour. That code was simply to annihilate all threats to him and his love ones.

"Just how powerful are you anyway?" One of the ANBU asked curiously, her voice was feminine and her purple hair fell to her back as she wore a cat-mask on her face to conceal her identity, "You've endured the most brutal sadistic torture program I've ever seen. Psychologically, you should be a wrack."

"I would rather not toot my own horn by answering that question." The young girl pouted at Ichigo before she bared witness to something truly amazing to her and the others that weren't Ichigo. His sword morphed and grew comprehensively in size. It was now in a shape of a shark tooth with one side of the sword being silver and other side being black.

"What are you doing young one?" Hiruzen questioned seriously.

"Relaxing." That was Ichigo's one reply before sheathing his now giant sword onto his back. He sauntered forward and did not stop even as the ANBU passed their swords into his necks, causing sparks to fly between their blades and his neck as if they weapons had met steel rather than skin.

"Hal-!"

"It's okay, let him go." Hiruzen commanded. This man was far more powerful than he looked alright. The ANBU did as told but quickly followed after the hokage once he began following Ichigo out of the chamber and into the open that was the hallway of the hokage's tower.

"How did you make your sword minimize in size young man?" Hiruzen asked.

"I powered down." Ichigo answered.

"It seems like you did quite the opposite." Hiruzen said.

"No. I concentrate my power within my blade. It's size combined with the intensity allow me to move at an extremely high level of speed. It's my ability." Ichigo explained, causing the ANBU to shallow lumps down their throats involuntarily.

Hiruzen's facial features betrayed none of his thoughts, "That's quite the interesting ability you have young man. What would you say if I offered you a place among our ranks here in Konohagakure? You could do a lot of good."

"I'll sleep on that one." Ichigo groused.

"Understandable." Hiruzen mumbled sagely, "There is no rush. As a safety precaution these ANBU shall trail you from the shadows if you chose to stay within our little village. They'll evade your personal space though."

Ichigo nodded his head in understanding.

"May I get your name young man?" Hiruzen asked.

"Ichigo… Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo introduced himself stoically.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi. And I'm sure you already know this from Ibiki but I'm the hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. It's a pleasure to meet you Ichigo, I hope the future brings us both good fortunate." Hiruzen stated with a good-natured smile on his face.

"I do hope so too, old man." The ever stoic Kurosaki murmured.

Hiruzen hummed at that before he led Ichigo to his office, "Now we'll need to set you up with an accommodation for your stay within Konoha."

Ichigo waved his hand dismissively, "There's really no need for you to go through all of that trouble old man."

Hiruzen sat on his chair, "Nonsense." Hiruzen brushed off Ichigo's concerns, "It's of no trouble my boy. That's unless you want to sleep on the streets." Ichigo had no answer to that. Hiruzen took it as clarification of him staying in Konoha, "Then it's settled my boy, we'll sort y-."

The sound of a baby crying cut off Hiruzen, making him raise an eyebrow before a smile came to his face at the sight of Kushina walking in carrying baby Naruto in her arms, "Sorry about the noise lord hokage-sama. Naruto-chan won't stop crying."

"It's of no concern Kushina-chan. I was merely getting Ichigo-kun settled in." Hiruzen smiled and Kushina raised an eyebrow.

"Ichigo?" Kushina looked at the tall orange haired man stoically standing in front of the hokage's desk and blushed a bit at his huge muscles showing clearly due to his tattered black shihakusho, "Sorry for interrupting sir, my son's feeling hungry so I tried to rush in here to resign from my duties as a ninja to tend to his needs."

"No problem." Ichigo assured. Ichigo looked at Naruto. He could sense one of the huge masses of chakra within Naruto. The strongest one to be more precise. But then again it was always in Konoha. It was just that it was strange to find it locked within a small blond haired baby.

Hiruzen lifted an eyebrow, "You're resigning Kushina-chan?"

Kushina nodded her head affirmatively, "Yeah, someone needs to be around to take care of this little guy, dattebane! I want to be there for my son 24/7!"

Hiruzen nodded his head sadly; the loss of Kushina was a major blow indeed. He was well aware of the fact that Kushina might've withdrawn from her ninja duties the moment she got pregnant with baby Naruto, but he was optimistic that she would somehow be able to balance her motherly duties with her ninja ones.

Minato dying was basically the final nail in the coffin for Kushina. She was obviously afraid of dying on a mission and leaving her son alone. This was understandable.

"Very well Kushina-chan." Hiruzen sighed heavily, pulling out a form from his desk before sliding it over to Kushina, "Please sign this form and you'll be officially resigned as a ninja of Konohagakure no Sato."

Kushina nodded her head before turning to Ichigo, "So where did you come from? Did lord Hiruzen-sama request of you specifically to live here in Konoha?" She seemed really excited about that possible fact.

"No. I have no memory of how I ended up here." Ichigo explained and Kushina gave him an incredulous look.

"It's true." Hiruzen confirmed. "Ichigo-kun arrived here in… unexpected circumstances. He's been living within the torture chamber for a year now, but because he's been deemed not a threat to the village he's been allowed out under probation."

Kushina's eyes widened as she stared at Ichigo like she had seen a ghost. In a sense she could somewhat relate to Ichigo, since she too was brought over from her own village to be a ninja of Konohagakure. It wasn't exactly the same but still Kushina felt a little similar to Ichigo.

"Where will you live Ichigo?" Kushina questioned, receiving a shrug from Ichigo. Kushina placed her finger on her chin and droned in a thoughtful manner, 'I could always take him in. He's a man and my little Naruto-chan needs a father-figure in his life.' Kushina contemplated.

As if reading the red-haired woman's thoughts, Hiruzen guessed, "I believe Kushina-chan wants to offer you a place to live Ichigo-kun."

Ichigo did not blink. "That's not necessary."

"Don't be a silly, billy!" Kushina smiled widely, rocking baby Naruto in her arms, "You don't want to sleep on the streets, dattebane!" Kushina insisted. "Besides, I have more than enough room for the both of us."

"_You should accept her offer, Ichigo." _Zangetsu urged Ichigo, "_We don't know where we are. We have no knowledge of this world. Maybe being with that woman would shed some light on the world we now find ourselves in. It's only natural that you find your way."_

'I guess so.' Ichigo admitted to his zanpakuto spirit before being rudely brought of his thoughts by a hand repeatedly tapping the side of his face.

"Hello, is anyone in there?" Kushina asked before she found her hand ensnared in the orange haired man's massive hand. She had to bite her top lip to suppress a moan as Ichigo's thumb gently caressed her hand before letting it go.

"I accept." Kushina blinked in a confused manner at Ichigo, "If you're still offering a place to stay, I accept." Ichigo accepted, causing Kushina to gasp in realization.

"That's terrific dattebane!" Kushina cheered and shoved baby Naruto in Ichigo's arms. Baby Naruto stopped crying and tilted his head to the side, staring at the stoic samurai blankly, "You won't regret it Ichigo!" Ichigo only nodded before Kushina turned towards the desk with a bright smile on her face.

Hiruzen smiled warmly while watching Kushina contently complete the form to resign as a ninja of Konoha, "I hope all goes well for you two from now on." Kushina nodded her head and sauntered over to Ichigo before leading him towards the door, "And Ichigo. I hope you consider becoming a ninja of konoha my boy."

"Will do." Ichigo murmured loud enough to be heard before he followed Kushina out of the hokage's tower with baby Naruto his arms.

Hiruzen sat back on his chair and sighed leisurely, "I have a good feeling about that boy, but even still." He looked at the ANBU stationed in the room, giving them a nod to let them know to hop to the rooftops and watch Ichigo from the shadows, "I sure hope I'm right about you Ichigo-kun."

XxX

Kushina and Ichigo were sauntering throughout the streets of Konoha with Ichigo still carrying baby Naruto in his arms. Kushina quickly realized that Ichigo was a man of very few words, but the words that did come out of his mouth were often respectable.

Kushina had a weird feeling in the pit of her gut that Ichigo was using that stoic shell of his so he wouldn't have to face his own emotions. Maybe that was due to the fact she had lost her precious people and used to act like a juvenile delinquent so she wouldn't have to feel alone in the village that once felt foreign to her.

When they left the hokage's tower Kushina showed him the hokage monument and the face of her deceased husband. She was grateful to Ichigo for not asking what happened. She still wasn't sure if she could talk about it completely, and not break down.

During the walk to Kushina's apartment the people (mainly the girls) would often stare at Ichigo, since he carried a huge sword on his back and his muscles were showing. That was something that had the girls ogling him, not that it bothered Ichigo, he was never one for girls anyway.

"Here we are." Kushina declared brightly, standing in front of a small apartment. "I'm sorry that it's not something overly huge. Ya' know, I'm just your average girl dattebane!"

"It's fine." Ichigo assured her before Kushina opened the door and walked in.

"I hope the couch won't be too much of a hassle for you to sleep on. I already set up the spare room as Naruto-chan's bedroom with the help of a friend of mine." Kushina smiled at baby Naruto sleeping soundly in Ichigo's arms, 'Ichigo's really good with kids.'

"No gripes from me." Ichigo said and Kushina smiled before her and Ichigo's stomachs growled loudly, "Could do with some food though."

Kushina blushed, "Me too dattebane!" Kushina prepared to stroll off into the kitchen, "Does ramen sound alright to you Ichigo-san?"

"It's not my cup of tea." Ichigo admitted. He then felt an ominous aura in the air, making him turn a impassive gaze at Kushina's form to see a glowing purple aura shrouding her while her beautiful long red hair hovered in the air and separated, taking on the form of nine-tails.

"What's wrong with ramen?" Kushina asked dangerously.

"Calm down." Ichigo recommended calmly, making Kushina widen her eyes, "I never said anything for wrong with it. I just said it's not my cup of tea."

Kushina's heart was beating against her chest. 'He didn't give in to me…! He wasn't scared of me!' That truly impressed Kushina. Most men would cower in fear once Kushina released her 'aura' on them. Ichigo, however, stared it down as if he could defeat her without breaking a sweat. 'He's so cool! Dattebane! I'm gonna have to fight him soon enough!'

"I can make us something else to eat Ichigo-kun." Kushina coughed to recompose herself, receiving a shrug from Ichigo before he watched Kushina saunter off to the kitchen before poking her head around the corner, "Oh, and Ichigo-kun, I'm gonna have to do something about your hair! And your clothes are a tattered mess too, I'll stop by the shop tomorrow and get you some new ones!"

Ichigo droned stoically, accepting that since the bangs of his orange hair covered his eyes and his shihakusho was torn to shreds.

xXx

(Two Hours Later)

Kushina and Ichigo sat around the dinner table eating a couple of delicious bowls of chicken curry. Ichigo would've to admit this woman could cook real well. She could give his baby sister, Yuzu, a run for her money with cooking like this.

"So tell me Ichigo. How'd your clothes end up like that? Were you in a fight for your country? You kind of remind me of those samurai in the Tetsu no Kuni (land of iron)." Kushina stated, feeding baby Naruto who sat in a high chair some baby food.

"I am a samurai. Just not from the place you're thinking of." Ichigo calmly lied to Kushina, eating his curry while Zangetsu rested at his side.

"Well I figured you were at least that much with that massive sword of yours." Kushina pointed out.

"It does the job," Ichigo assured her.

"I bet it does, Ichigo-kun." Kushina giggled. "So you have no memory of where you came from then?" Kushina asked and Ichigo shook his head, "That's a shame Ichigo-kun. You're kind of like a foreigner like I was when I first arrived here." Ichigo nodded his head to show that he was listening, "I guess one could say I couldn't bear to see a fellow foreigner out on the streets, dattebane!"

"Thank you." Ichigo spoke up, causing Kushina to blink. "You didn't have to do this for me."

"Oh no, it's okay, really!" Kushina assured him frantically, "I like helping people anyway, dattebane!" Ichigo nodded his head simply, this woman really was a kind soul. She was what he needed at this moment of time. The stoic warrior stood up and walked over to Kushina before placing his hand over hers, causing her to blush from the contact.

"I'm in your debt… Kushina."


	2. Hatred Shrouds the Despised Clan

**Review shout-outs **

**Friaku: Yeah, I know what you mean. It's nice to see Ichigo in the Naruto-verse for a change. And yeah, that was a little sexual. Lol. **

**Meech Macko: Thanks man. I'll keep that in mind. And I honestly believe Madara can eradicate nearly all of the bleach characters by himself, since he can destroy mountains casually, and no one in the Bleach-verse other than Juha Bach, Yamamoto (The best old man ever), Aizen and Dangai Ichigo has the power capable of matching and/or overwhelming Madara Uchiha's power. **

**bleachnumber1protector: Rest easy friend. I'll be updating my other Naruto/Bleach crossover fic soon enough. And don't worry, I wasn't planning on giving any Naruto character Bleach powers. There's two things I will never write about. And that's saiyan Naruto fics or shinigami or any Bleach given power to Naruto fics. It just won't happen from me. Or Harem fics too. That'd be three or more girls. Two's fine though. **

**Guest: Yeah man. Naruto could have a new daddy, male babies need role models in their life after all. I can assure you that Naruto won't be his canon-self in this story since he has a family, he'll probably be more Gon-like. He's the main character of HunterxHunter.**

**Ichigo's power level - Destructive Power or DP for short and speed. **

**Shikai - DP = Multiple Mountain level - Speed = Hyper Speed **

**Transcendent Bankai - DC = Island level - Speed = Massively hyper sonic. That means his speed is at the same level as the Hiraishin no Jutsu. **

**Kami Mode (Final Getsuga Tenshou form) DC - Multiple Island Level - Speed = Lightning Plus Speed **

**I like to think Ichigo's levels of power was about that in his fight against Aizen. In all actuality it was probably about multiple mountain level in his kami mode. The reason why I put it higher is because, well, he's godlike in this story. Add to the fact he was casually shattering mountains to pieces with mere swings of his blade... not even touching them. **

**So that's his strength levels in this story. **

**And no one'll match him. **

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto. **

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**Hatred Shrouds the Despised Clan**

The ever cheerful Kushina was traversing through the busy streets of Konoha carrying a few bags of shopping. Namely the new clothes she bought (brought) for Ichigo and a pair of scissors since she lost her other ones and needed to buy some new ones, as Ichigo's hair was looking like a mess.

"I hope Ichigo-kun'll like the meal I'm cooking tonight." Kushina droned to herself. The man didn't seem too fussed with what he ate. On the contrary Kushina thought that the orange haired man thought her cooking was okay, but that could be counted for his lack of personality.

This was something that Kushina was dying to find out. The way she looked at it Ichigo had obviously experienced an emotional trauma so great it caused him to subconsciously encase himself in an impassive shell so he wouldn't have to deal with the burden of whatever caused him the pain.

That was something she wanted to fix. She desired to make the orange haired man feel some sort of emotion. He did touch her hand out of gratitude. So maybe all hope wasn't lost. If she just showed that she was there for him then he would open up and show his emotions, if only slightly.

Kushina sighed, 'Well, at least my little Naruto-chan likes Ichigo-kun.' He wasn't crying that much, so that was a start. The man had a calm aura about him that seemed to relax anyone within its presence. Even Kushina herself could not faze him when he declared ramen wasn't exactly his thing.

Kushina frowned at that. She was going to make Ichigo love ramen whether he liked it or not goddamn it! Just like she was going to make the orange haired man love her cheeky smile even if she had to keep flashing it to him whenever she saw him. Oh and he would fall for it. After all what man in his right mind would not at the least like her smile?

Eventually, Kushina noticed the sudden shift in emotions of the civilians, 'Why are they all glar-?' Kushina cut herself off as her answer came in the form of a fairly tall, cream-skinned lady with long navy blue hair falling to her back wearing a black kimono dress with white flowers petals printed all over it. She had a white obi tied around her waist and black toed sandals on her feet.

That beautiful woman came from a very prodigious clan… well her clan was once prodigious before a certain event changed all of that. But that was a story all on its own. At this point of time many of the villagers despised the woman and her clan in its entirety, treating them as pests that they could get rid of at any given time they pleased.

"Mikoto-chan!" Kushina recognized the woman instantaneously, making the villagers wince from the subject of their glares getting called out. The woman now known as Mikoto turned around and smiled brightly at the red haired woman she had come to know in all of her years of living in Konohagakure no Sato (Village Hidden in the Leaves) as Kushina.

"Hello Kushina-chan!" Mikoto greeted, running up to Kushina and giving the red haired woman a hug with three bags of shopping in her hands, "How are you doing? I hope you're taking good care of yourself?"

Kushina nodded her head in a happy manner, "You betcha I am! Dattebane!"

Mikoto shook her head with an amused smile on her features, "Same old Kushina. You never change, do you?" Kushina grinned in a sheepish manner before Mikoto noticed someone wasn't with her, "Hey, where's Naruto-chan? I thought the little guy would be with you."

Kushina held up her index finger, "Oh. Well he's resting at home with Ichigo-kun."

"Ichigo?" Mikoto repeated with confusion written all over her features, "Who's that?"

Kushina scratched the side of her cheek awkwardly, "That's a little hard to explain Mikoto-chan." Mikoto just blinked a couple of times at Kushina, prompting her to continue, "Well for starters, he's a very polite young man who's not quite sure how he arrived here."

"You mean he has amnesia?" Mikoto asked with her mouth open in shock.

"It's something around those lines." Kushina agreed mysteriously, a frown adorning her already attractive features, "He may be just suppressing his memories so he won't feel lonely, sort of like how I used to act all tomboy-ish when I first came to live in Konoha so I wouldn't have to deal with the pain of loneliness."

Mikoto nodded her head in understanding before wincing at the remembrance of Kushina's past. It wasn't a big secret that Kushina Uzumaki was a star, and it was because of such rare potential that Konoha opted to bring Kushina over to their village in exchange for offering their services to Kushina's old village. Like for instance Konoha was assigned to watch over the Uzu no Kuni (The Land of Whirlpool) and see to it that it was protected from any and all invaders willing to take it down.

Obviously that failed epically.

And such a failure would forever weigh heavily on the shoulders of the Sandaime Hokage.

Anyway, Kushina used that badass persona of hers to mask her own pain. So now this left a question, "How does this Ichigo-guy act, Kushina-chan?" Mikoto asked in curiosity.

Kushina's frown deepened even more so than what it already was, "That's the thing. He doesn't have any particular traits that make him who he is. He's more like a robot than a human, dattebane!"

Mikoto's eyes held a touch of sadness in them, "That's a little heart-breaking to hear. Everyone should have a little emotion, even if it's just a little." Like most of her own clan held fury, but that was another matter entirely, "I wonder what he could've saw to even make him want to suppress his emotions."

"That's exactly what I wanna know, dattebane." Kushina stressed before calming down by inhaling and exhaling deeply, "But it isn't all bad. Ichigo-kun did show a good deal of gratitude when I decided to take him in."

Mikoto nodded, "Well nobody said you weren't naïve Kushina-chan." Mikoto teased, making Kushina pout before an idea came to her, "Why don't you bring Ichigo-san down to mine and Fugaku's house today for dinner. I'm sure little Sasuke-chan would love to see little Naruto-chan."

"That's a great idea, dattebane!" Kushina smiled brightly, "I betcha Itachi would be happy to meet Ichigo-kun."

Mikoto nodded contently, "Then it's a plan. We'll be expecting you, Naruto-chan and Ichigo-san by ours in roughly three hours' time. Is that okay with you?"

"You betcha it is!" Kushina chirped. "That would give me enough time to get Ichigo-kun cleaned up." Mikoto looked at Kushina strangely, getting her to laugh while waving her around in a dismissive manner, "I mean I have to give Ichigo-kun a haircut. He was only found here yesterday, and it looked like he hadn't been given a haircut in two years, dattebane!" Kushina lied.

Mikoto nodded her head in understanding before patting Kushina's shoulder, "Okay, I'll see you later Kushina-chan."

"Sounds like a plan."

XxX

(Kushina's apartment – With Ichigo and Baby Naruto)

Whoever said taking care of babies wasn't an easy task was spot on in that aspect, because Ichigo was currently overseeing little Naruto and had no idea what to do. Baby Naruto was next to Ichigo on the couch lying on his back while Ichigo had his arms crossed over his chest.

Expressionlessly, Ichigo looked over at baby Naruto who was staring at him blankly, "Old man."

"_No idea." _Zangetsu insisted calmly, "_Taking care of a baby is not my forte I'm afraid." _Ichigo merely let out a grunt. Zangetsu was oddly surprised the manifestation of Ichigo's other power did not make a cheeky quip about the situation Ichigo found himself in. But then again the white-faced devilish-like mass of reishi within Ichigo hadn't conversed with them much after its pride took three heavy blows.

The first one was when Ichigo's sheer determination proved too much for it in their fight within Ichigo's mindscape way back when the vizords chose to assist Ichigo in controlling his satanic power. But despite that setback, the devilish mass of reishi still held a glimmer of hope that it could take over Ichigo's body, as Ichigo could only control its murderous reiatsu for a mere ten seconds.

Its resolve to possess Ichigo's body, chewing up Ichigo's soul before spitting it out dwindled significantly once Ichigo's determination proved too great for it in his fight against the fearsome Grimmjow! Once the ten seconds were up, Ichigo would not cease control over its power, he forcefully kept the hollow mask on even as his body started straining from the pressure of sustaining the devilish power of the hollow inside of him for way longer than he could handle. It seemed right there Ichigo had finally conquered the supreme mass of murderous reishi inside of himself.

But unfortunately a chance presented itself to the hollow to possess Ichigo's body, as Ulquiorra remorselessly blow Ichigo's heart right out of his chest, seemingly murdering the orange haired shinigami. The hollow greedily snatched at that chance like a child in a candy store, turning Ichigo into something so monstrous the gods themselves would've ran away scare of Ichigo.

It had become a Vasto-Lorde! And with that tremendous power it eradicated Ulquiorra as if the hollow should've been renamed Ulquiorra-bitch right there and then. It was that great! It was just unfortunate that Ichigo's shinigami powers greatly overwhelmed his hollow powers, as the orange haired shinigami used that and his sheer determination to regain possession of his body!

Once it and Zangetsu fused together to train Ichigo in the art of using his most destructive and most lethal form/attack it just lost all motivation to try and possess the stoic shinigami. It did throw subtle little jabs at Ichigo during the long tedious year of 'torture' Ichigo endured, but it was all for naught.

Speaking of a mass of energy, Ichigo let out a grunt as he looked at baby Naruto, prompting Zangetsu to speak up, "_Yes. I too can sense a humongous amount of power hidden deep within this child. It holds an overwhelming amount of malevolence."_

"Like me." Ichigo stated.

"_That could be plausible… Ichigo. The hollow inhabiting your inner world does have an incredible amount of malevolence within its reiatsu. I'd go as far as to say the hollow and the mass of power locked within this child are about even in terms of destructive capabilities." _Zangetsu offered his two cents on the matter, "_If push comes to shove you could always defeat it, as your overall power topples its power comprehensively." _

Ichigo's expression did not change as it remained stony; he only let out a hum noise to let Zangetsu know he took all of that information in.

How could he not? Here was a boy that was quite blatantly like him. Not in terms of personality, because he was positive once the boy grew up; the two would be a million miles apart from one another, but in the sense that they both had two large amounts of reishi/chakra in the forms of two very malevolent beings.

And not that Ichigo would ever admit it but he would've rather liked for one person, just one, to have had a being of pure malevolence within the depths of his/her soul. Sure he got that with the vizords, but they wanted Ichigo to be a part of their little group, something Ichigo was not fond of at all.

He desired their help with controlling his inner hollow so he wouldn't accidentally lose his temper one day, and allow the devilish being to free itself from its prison, technically, from inside of Ichigo, and then go on a rampage slaughtering Ichigo's family in its vendetta! That was it. He just needed help to prevent that from happening. But did he want friends?

No.

Fuck no.

No thank you. Ichigo was a loner, a lone wolf. He didn't desire friends, or a 'posse' to hang with. In the past he often turned down any and all invitations to hang out with Keigo and Mizuiro, because he liked to be by himself. On the contrary he was only living with Kushina because he didn't fancy living on the streets and eating out of trash bins, and he wasn't evil enough to boot down someone's front door, kick the shit outta whoever lived in the house, murder their asses, and dispose of the dead bodies as if he were living there the whole time.

He had his code of honour.

And murdering some poor soul for his/her house wasn't in it.

Kushina had to be respected for taking him in. She just had to.

An ear-splitting cry erupted from baby Naruto, getting Ichigo to calmly shift his head to look at the small infant, "Hungry." Ichigo guessed and baby Naruto continued to cry, curling up his tiny legs while his chubby fingers folded a bit as if they wanted to form two fists.

"_Soothe him Ichigo." _Zangetsu urged and Ichigo picked up baby Naruto before gently placing the blond haired baby by his shoulder and rubbing his little back, but baby Naruto continued to whimper loudly, "_Does he smell_?" Ichigo shook his head slowly, "_Then he must be hungry, didn't that woman leave a readymade bottle for him to drink in the kitchen."_

_xXx_

_(Flashback)_

_xXx_

"_Alright Ichigo-kun, I'm going out to buy you some clothes and some_ _groceries and perhaps a new toy for Naruto-chan." Kushina said, putting on her coat while Ichigo sat on the couch with Baby Naruto on his lap, "I also have to get more scissors to do your hair. Can you watch Naruto-chan for me while I'm gone?"_

_Ichigo hummed affirmatively, nodding his head to let Kushina know it was one of affirmation._

"_Oh goody, I won't be gone for long! D__attebane." Kushina chirped, walking over to Ichigo before picking up baby Naruto, "You be good for Ichigo-kun now you little munchkin." Baby Naruto let out an adorable giggle, "That's right. Momma's baby boy's gonna be good for Ichigo-kun." Kushina rubbed her nose against baby Naruto's before kissing the cute little baby on his forehead. _

_Kushina put baby Naruto back on Ichigo's lap, making him stop gigging as he looked at Ichigo blankly, "See ya later Ichigo-kun! A bottle is in the kitchen if Naruto-chan gets hungry." Ichigo nodded his head simply, grunting as Kushina left the house in good spirits._

_XxX_

_(End of Flashback)_

_xXx_

The sound of a microwave going off broke Ichigo's out of his musings as the orange haired man stood in the kitchen with a still crying blond haired, blue eyed baby in his arms. He reached into the microwave after opening it up and brought out a clear-view baby bottle with a milk-like liquid in it.

"Waa. Waa. Waa. Waa." Baby Naruto wailed_._

From what he knew of watching sitcoms when he could before arriving in this world, it was best to check if the baby milk was too hot by dripping a bit on one's hand first. With that on his mind Ichigo squeezed just a little bit of the milk on his hand. It didn't feel overly hot or too cold. But then again he only warmed it up for about twenty seconds.

Babies didn't like boiling hot things. That was only logical.

"Here." Ichigo gently placed the bottle near the crying baby Naruto's mouth, getting him to stop crying as he contently began to drink the milk out of his bottle. Ichigo hummed and walked back over to the cream-coloured sofa he slept on before sitting back down with baby Naruto on his lap, helping him drink his bottle stoically.

"_You're a good man." _Zangetsu complimented.

"I'm just returning the favour." Ichigo returned, brushing off the compliment as if Zangetsu hadn't even said it. And why should he take it? He was living off of the kind red haired woman for free after all. C'mon, he had to do something to repay her kindness.

"_Even still,"_ Zangetsu insisted, "_Babies, especially male ones, need role models in their lives." _Zangetsu elucidated wisely,_ "You could be his." _

Ichigo grunted, shaking his head. He wasn't thinking about that. But on another note, "I could use some money." He couldn't rely on Kushina for everything now, "Suggestions?"

"_You could always become one of them." _Zangetsu could tell Ichigo wanted to frown at that suggestion, but he resisted, "_Well. All humans in this world have even the minuscule amount of reiryoku (spirit energy) within them." _Ichigo knew that. It was why seemingly everyone in this world could see him, "_Criminals with bounties on their heads wouldn't be too far off of the range of possibilities around here." _

Bounty hunting did sound satisfactory to Ichigo's needs. He did not want to have to slaughter anyone not a threat to him or his associates; however, he didn't quite have a choice in the matter. He needed some money to pull his own weight around here. He was too honest just to live off of Kushina like a run-of-the-mill moocher.

So bounty hunting it was then. But as long as the ones Ichigo either brought in or outright massacred depending on the conditions of the bounty were evil ones, Ichigo could rest easy at night.

A sucking noise made Ichigo look down at baby Naruto to see that he had finished his milk. With a relaxed grunt escaping his lips, Ichigo easily lifted baby Naruto near his shoulder and tenderly rubbed his little back, eventually getting a burp and a puking sound out of the little blond haired baby.

"_It's unfortunate that happened Ichigo." _Zangetsu said sincerely, making Ichigo nod as he stood up before putting baby Naruto down on the couch. One could see the white vomit that erupted from baby Naruto's mouth on the back of the couch and on Ichigo's back unfortunately.

And the baby was just giggling cutely at him.

Okay, it was nothing to stress about.

xXx

(With Kushina)

xXx

"I sure hope Naruto-chan didn't give Ichigo-kun too much trouble." Kushina said idly to herself, standing outside of her apartment before looking up at the direction of the trees, "They're still there." Kushina sighed, turning back to her door before putting her key into the lock and opening it up.

"I'm home!" Kushina declared brightly, receiving no response. "I'm home." She repeated as she walked into the living room and onto the sight that made her coo aloud, "Awww." Ichigo was passed out on the sofa with baby Naruto peacefully sleeping on his chest while sucking on his little thumb, "He looks like he could be Naruto-chan's uncle."

Kushina carefully observed the sleeping Ichigo and Naruto while silently tip-toeing towards them. Ichigo looked content to her, almost as if he were a normal happy man and not an emotionless robot. But as she ventured closer to the two, her nose wrinkled as a slight grimace appeared on her beautiful face.

"You're back." Ichigo murmured, surprising Kushina as Ichigo turned his head to look at her before he covered his mouth as a yawn attempted to echo throughout the air.

"I thought you were sleeping." Kushina explained as she walked over to Ichigo before setting her bags down and sitting by the lanky man's feet. She sniffed at the air before looking at her sofa to see a slight smudge above Ichigo's head, making her sigh, "I take it Naruto-chan threw up."

Ichigo nodded his head affirmatively, sitting up before setting the baby on the couch between him and Kushina, "I apologise."

"Don't worry about it." Kushina brushed it off with a huge smile on her features, "It wasn't your fault. My little Naruto-chan just happens to be one greedy little boy," Kushina smiled at her sleeping baby-boy, tickling his tummy, "Mamma's little boy is a greedy little boy, yes you are."

Kushina stopped tickling baby Naruto and looked at Ichigo, "Oh, yeah! I ran into a friend of mine today, her name's Mikoto Uchiha." Ichigo lifted his eyebrow up in curiosity, wondering where Kushina was going with this, "She invited us around for dinner."

"Us?"

"Yep!" Kushina chirped with a smile adorning her features, "I hope that's okay with you." Ichigo closed his eyes, nodding his head to let Kushina know he was okay with going to her friend's home, "Alrighty then. Let a girl get a cracking with that hair of yours, Ichigo-kun. After all I'm sure you want to look your best for others."

Ichigo offered a shrug of his shoulders. He really didn't care what other people thought about him, but since he needed a haircut he wasn't going to complain. He never did. With that Ichigo hopped off of the sofa before placing himself behind Kushina (who was still sat on the couch) on the floor in a lotus-position, getting Kushina to smile before she reached into one of the bags and pulled out her scissors she bought (brought) earlier.

"They really tortured you Ichigo-kun by letting your hair grow out." Kushina joked sweetly, only getting a drone out of Ichigo which made her sigh as she started cutting Ichigo's hair that reached past his shoulders and ended at his upper back.

"Question." Ichigo said after a few strands of his hair fell onto the floor.

"What is it Ichigo-kun?" Kushina questioned.

Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, "Naruto. I can sense quite a huge amount of malevolent energy within him." Kushina gasped and dropped her scissors, not even getting so much of a flinch out of Ichigo who remained as cool as a cucumber.

"Do you know what's in my Naruto-chan?" Kushina asked tentatively.

"Not necessarily." Ichigo did little to ease the red haired woman's worries. He looked at Kushina, as if asking her with his eyes alone to elucidate for him to comprehend the mass of malevolent energy hidden within Naruto.

Kushina shifted uncomfortably, letting out a sigh as she realized Ichigo probably wouldn't let this go without knowing what was within Naruto, "I was afraid you would find out. I just hope you won't judge me afterwards."

"I won't." Ichigo assured.

Kushina nodded with a gulp, "Well I don't know if you know about this, but they're nine constructs of chakra all known as bijus (tailed-beasts) around the world."

"I've sensed them." Ichigo divulged.

Kushina hummed and bit her top lip before continuing with a saddened expression on her features, "Only a year ago, when my husband Minato Namikaze was still alive, did a unknown masked-man manage to invade Konoha while I was giving birth to Naruto-chan. Somehow, he was able to find the most powerful of all the bijus, the Kyuubi no Yoko (Nine-Tailed-Fox)."

Ichigo nodded to show that he was taking in all of the info, "He… controlled the Kyuubi through… controversial methods." Kushina explained. Ichigo felt she was intentionally leaving something out, but did not call her out on the matter, "Being the Yondaime Hokage at the time, Minato took the responsibility of taking on the Kyuubi after flashing me and Naruto-chan home with his **Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)**." Kushina explained, clenching her fists as tears welled up inside of her eyes.

Kushina took a few deep breaths to recompose herself, "He didn't give me a chance to talk him out of it before he teleported himself and Naruto-chan away after he'd teleported the Kyuubi out of Konoha. The time Hiruzen-sama had found him and Naruto-chan, the damage was already done. Minato offered his life to perform a jutsu known as the **Shiki Fūjin (the Dead Demon: Consuming Seal)**."

Say what now? "_That's_ _quite the fascinating move. Is it not Ichigo?" _Zangetsu asked rhetorically, getting an apathetic grunt out of Ichigo, mentally of course. That sounded like something originated from the Soul Society, but then again Ichigo (or any shinigami in general) wasn't a demon(s). He (they) was merely an entity composed of reishi.

Then again the Shiki Fujin could've passed for a Kido (demon way).

Ichigo looked over his shoulder and saw Kushina shaking while looking at baby Naruto, "I take it the jutsu was used to seal the Kyuubi within Naruto, was it not?" Kushina's wince was the only clarification Ichigo needed. So that was what he sensed in baby Naruto, a construct of malevolent chakra.

"So…" Kushina hesitated, shifting in place, "I take it you won't want to live with us anymore now that you know that Naruto-chan's a Jinchuuriki." A hum of fascination let Kushina know Ichigo had no idea what that was, "A Jinchuuriki is a human with a biju sealed inside of them. Like Naruto-chan, a human has to be compatible with a biju in order to have it safety locked inside of them; otherwise the consequences could be fatal."

Ichigo grunted in acknowledgement. That made sense. If anyone could have a biju sealed within them then there wouldn't be any established villages, because every single ninja worth their salt would be scattering the planet in search of a biju (most the likely the Kyuubi) to seal it within themselves and gain it tremendous power.

"Ichigo-kun…"

"My curiosity was piqued. That was all." Ichigo explained impassively, cutting off Kushina as if reading the red haired woman's mind.

"Does that mean," Kushina started, hope filing her eyes, "You don't think of my deceased husband any differently, or see Naruto-chan as some kind of monster for being the first Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko (the Nine-Tailed Fox)?" Admittedly she terrified what people would think of her family and Naruto if she told them he was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko; on the contrary, she'd not have told Ichigo if he hadn't sensed the malevolent being within Naruto.

Damn that sensing ability.

No wonder he knew where the ANBU were back when he told her where they were stationed yesterday and the day before this one.

Ichigo shook his head. Why would he? He himself had a malevolent being within himself, which manifested during his tedious training to gain his own shinigami powers so he could rescue Rukia. And he could not rightly judge Minato, because he wasn't naïve enough to believe everyone was as powerful as he was, to the point where they could eradicate mountains with shots of their fists in their first forms, and mere shockwaves after creating the force by swinging their blades around in their second forms. In all actuality, Ichigo was powerful enough in his first form alone (shikai) to annihilate mountains by creating a mere force of a swing of his blade.

The man was different class all round.

Comparing anyone to Ichigo just wasn't fair.

Minato did what he did. It was as simple as that.

Kushina gripped Ichigo's shoulders, a smile forming across her face, "Thank you Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Don't mention it." Ichigo responded apathetically.

Friendship was a bless.

xXx

(Elsewhere)

xXx

On the outskirts of Konoha, away from civilianization, was a compound full of people with distinctive black hair and onyx eyes to match sauntering through the streets. Small children would often scurry into the compound after returning from the academy.

The adults of the clan often came through the gates of the compound after returning from either the shops around the high street of Konoha or seeing their friends that weren't part of their clan, the latter was usually a rarity.

Not for one Mikoto Uchiha. She occasionally attempted to saunter through the market around the busy streets of Konoha known and allowed to all civilians of Konohagakure no Sato, but she always found herself walking through the market district on edge, consistently looking over her shoulder nervously as she could always see (from the corner of her eye) the hate-filled glares the villagers would often send her. She only ventured out of the compound to often buy stuff at the market district that she couldn't get here in the compound or just in the hope that she'd pass by her best friend Kushina Uzumaki.

She was glad to be among her own people once again, since the glares of the civilians always made her feel nervous. It was why she breathed a sigh of relief once she made it through the gates of her compound and into the sanctuary and acceptance of her own turf and people respectively, "It feels good to be back." Mikoto sighed.

She hated how the villagers treated the members of her clan. Before the attack of the Kyuubi no Yoko they were treated as nuisances, as if they were ants, any and all clans could put down in an instant. And that treatment was amped up by one hundred after the invasion of the Kyuubi no Yoko. Mikoto and her clan in its entirety were looked upon with scorn in the eyes of many, as if they were murderers of children.

It wasn't a nice feeling at all.

Eventually, as the slightly depressed Mikoto came upon a massive Japanese house, a small smile formed on her face as she remembered she was cooking for her best friend, her best friend's son, and her best friend's roommate tonight, "I hope Fugaku won't mind a bit of company tonight." She hoped, sliding open the door before taking off her shoes at the door.

"I'm back." Mikoto said brightly.

"Ah. Mother, it's good to see you. How was your day out?" Came a respectable voice of a male child as a little boy with spiky black hair and black eyes sauntered around the corner to greet his mother. He wore a long-sleeved black polo shirt with a high collar, and white shorts reaching his knees.

Mikoto smiled warmly at the boy, "Hello Itachi-kun. Is your father around? I want to let him know we'll be having company around tonight."

"So Kushina-san's coming around tonight with little Naruto-kun. That will be pleasant." The five year old wonder-boy concluded calmly.

Mikoto placed her hands on her hips, "And how do you know that it's Kushina who's coming down. I never told you that." Mikoto smiled at the prodigy that was her son.

Itachi returned the smile in kind, "It's a curse placed upon us that no one except for Kushina-san shall come around to pay us a visit." The wonder-boy explained cryptically.

Mikoto frowned, "Yes, you're right my little smarty pants son." Mikoto affectionately ruffled Itachi's hair, trying to put the motherly-smile back on her face, but the genius-boy was not to be fooled.

"You can find father in his studies." Itachi told her, turning around to walk back into the living room, "Furthermore, Sasuke-kun has been of no trouble at all. I fed him his milk and afterwards he drifted off to sleep. You can find Sasuke-kun in his room sleeping in his cot."

"Good boy, Itachi-kun. You're going to go far as a shinobi if you keep maturing the way you are son." Mikoto praised, getting a hum out of Itachi before he sauntered back to the living room to continue doing what he was doing before stopping to see to his mother.

Itachi Uchiha was one of the most promising young ninja the Uchiha-clan had ever produced. He was absolutely excelling in all aspects within the academy; to the point even the teachers had to praise the boy for his skills. He had already mastered the Uchiha clan's signature attack: **The Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (The Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)**, and he was already making head-way in creating a more powerful version of the Uchiha-clan's signature attack.

The kid was truly amazing and his father was thoroughly proud of him. Fugaku held the strong belief that his son would bring the Uchiha-clan back to its rightful glory days, something that made the kind-hearted woman in his wife frown every-time she heard her husband preach it. She only wished to live in peace and harmony, she did not desire frame or glory. If she did then she wouldn't have gotten married and had kids.

Mikoto Uchiha just wanted to be treated equally.

"I guess I'll go check on little Sasuke-chan first." Mikoto murmured to herself, sauntering off to a small baby blue painted room with rainbow-like designs on the walls and a cot in the centre of the room. Mikoto walked over to the cot and smiled down at a little black haired baby sleeping on his side.

"You're going to grow up to be big and strong, just like your father." Mikoto assured baby Sasuke, sinking her head into the cot to kiss baby Sasuke on his little forehead before sauntering out of baby Sasuke's bedroom and into the kitchen to put her shopping bags down on her side.

After putting the shopping away, Mikoto went off to find her husband. Once she made it to the door to his studies, she knocked on the door politely, "Fugaku, honey, may I come in for a minute?"

A rather grumpy voice sounded out from the other side, "What is it Mikoto? I am very busy as the head of the Uchiha clan and chief of police force."

Mikoto slightly rolled her eyes and opened the door before calmly walking in, "I just wanted to inform you that I invited Kushina-chan and her friend Ichigo-san over for dinner tonight."

A groan of frustration was heard from a grey-haired man with onyx eyes wearing a simple dark green kimono held closed by a white obi tied around his waist, dark green pants, and black toed-sandals on his feet.

"Dear, you are aware of the fact I do not approve of your relationship with that woman." Fugaku told her sternly, "I would prefer not to mingle with her or her friend known as… Ichigo-san, is it not?"

"But Kushina-chan's my friend!" Mikoto argued. "And you know I don't have many of those after-… well, you know." Yes. That was an extremely touchy subject the head of the Uchiha clan Fugaku Uchiha wished not to go into until he'd the necessary fire power to do something about it.

"I see." Fugaku said calmly, closing his eyes, "Well very well dear, if you insist on Uzumaki-san coming around for tea with her companion I shall support you as your husband." Mikoto smiled and bent down to her husband who was sat in seiza by a desk to wrap her arms around his neck and nuzzle against his face.

"I knew you'd agree honey, I promise you won't regret it." Mikoto assured him.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, dear." Fugaku said, nudging his wife slightly as if to tell her to come off of his shoulder, "And I am very busy right now, as chief of the police force it's my job to see to it that the security of Konoha is of the utmost efficiency. And then there's Itachi… That boy shall lead this clan back to its former glory; no longer will we be out-casted among the rest of the villagers. Mark my words dear. The Uchiha-clan'll reign supreme once again."

Mikoto frowned. Her husband was going to drive himself insane with his desire to restore the clan to its former glory, so much so he subconsciously began to neglect Mikoto, his own wife. She knew he did not mean to ignore her, it was that he was so intensely loyal to the Uchiha clan that he was sort of blinded to everything else around him, even Itachi could see that as clear as day. He blamed the Hokage for shoving the Uchiha-clan members in the back section of Konohagakure no Sato.

A lot of the members of the Uchiha clan complained about what a worthless position they'd be given as serving members as the police force but Fugaku had to hold onto some belief that maybe, just maybe, it was a useful job, one that probably be used to excel them to greatness once again.

Mikoto stood up, walking towards the door before spinning around to glance at her husband once again, "Oh Fugaku." Hatred was consuming her husband every-day, something that highly worried his wife.


	3. Showered in Flames

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto. Tite Kubo owns Bleach and his brethren Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto. **

**Guest: Madara's top tier easy in the Bleach-verse! I would say he's ranked in the top five.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Showered in Flames**

xXx

(In the meantime - With Kushina - baby Naruto and Ichigo)

Kushina and Ichigo were sauntering toward the Uchiha-clan's compound with the ANBU still silently tracking Ichigo, something that amused Kushina as they kept moving within different spots in a desperate bid to escape the orange haired man's view whenever the man would turn his head in their direction as if to say, "You're there."

His sensing ability was simply unreal.

She guessed that it was a samurai-thing as she sure ninjas couldn't sense the Kyuubi from within Naruto, something that both agreed they would keep to themselves and a select few people close to Kushina's family, like Minato's sensei for instance.

Kushina was holding her nappy bag on her shoulder in case Naruto needed a change of diaper later on. Ichigo, with his spiky orange hair cut low, was carrying baby Naruto in his arms while wearing his new clothes bought for him by Kushina. He now wore a blue dragon-patterned kimono with a black obi tied around his waist, black kimono pants, and navy blue sandals on his feet. The patterns on his kimono were gold. In addition he'd a golden rosary-like strap around his chest to hold his massive sword on his back that he insisted on taking with him.

Kushina was impressed that Ichigo seemingly didn't care whether the ANBU thought he was a threat or not by carrying his sword out with him. But to him it was more along the lines of he didn't see them as a threat and thus he allowed them to stalk him in the shadows, not that he ever lost their presences. He always knew where they were.

He could sense anyone's presence, just like he could sense the one coming around the corner. The person's chakra overwhelmed Kushina's by a huge margin. Of course the person's chakra levels still paled in comparison to Ichigo's reiatsu reserves.

"What is it Ichigo-kun?" Kushina asked curiously, looking at the direction Ichigo had turned his eyes to seeing a man so pale it looked as if he hadn't seen the sun in years, he actually made Kushina shudder at the very sight of him.

Walking out of the alleyway was a grey-skinned man with long black hair falling to his mid back. He wore a leaf headband around his forehead, a navy blue jumper underneath a green flak jacket, blue trousers, and blue toed-sandals.

"What a pleasant surprise it is to see the wife of our beloved deceased Yondaime Hokage." The man greeted eerily, his golden eyes watching Ichigo holding baby Naruto with mirth as purple rings shrouded his eyes, "Though, it would appear you've found yourself a new mate Kushina-dear."

"Orochimaru." Kushina said with hesitance in her voice. "And no, you're wrong. This is my friend Ichigo-kun." She took notice of the fact that Ichigo did not hum or grunt in acknowledgment, but didn't question him on the matter.

"Ichigo-kun, huh?" Orochimaru asked, a creepy smile forming on his face. "He looks pretty powerful."

"That's because he is." Kushina replied matter-of-factly. One had to be powerful if one lived in the torture chamber for a year. Kushina was sure Hiruzen would've sent Ibiki in there to interrogate him within that time. So that made Ichigo mentally strong too.

"I see." Orochimaru hissed with a smile on his paled-face. She could feel Orochimaru's malevolence flaring as if trying to taunt Ichigo into something, making Kushina step slightly to the side to hide herself behind Ichigo. Ichigo, seeing this, gently covered baby Naruto's face with his massive hand to keep him from seeing Orochimaru.

"How fascinating." Orochimaru droned as he looked at Ichigo's blade. "That's quite the huge sword you have there. Kukukuku. Tell me boy, are you meant to be a samurai?" Orochimaru hinted to where the ANBU were watching nervously as Orochimaru's malevolence was scaring them to death.

Ichigo nodded his head, his expression remaining apathetical as Orochimaru laughed, "You don't speak much, do you?" A dark gleam covered Ichigo's eyes, "No need to answer that. Kukuku. It was… eventual meeting you Ichigo…" He sounded like he was hinting to say what Ichigo's last name was.

"Kurosaki." Kushina said from behind Ichigo after a few seconds had passed. "That's Ichigo-kun's last name."

"Kurosaki-kun…" Orochimaru licked his lips, "That's such an exciting name." Kushina shuddered before Orochimaru started sauntering forward, but stopped right next to Ichigo, whispering in his ear in a sadistic manner, "I do hope we get the chance to get better acquainted… Kurosaki-kun." Kushina winced as she was close enough to hear what Orochimaru said before the snake-man sauntered off.

"He always gives me the creeps, dattebane!" Kushina said and Ichigo looked at her, "He's one of the three students trained by lord Hokage-sama himself before he became the Hokage along with Lady Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya. Jiraiya's actually this little one's godfather as he was the one who helped Minato become as strong as he did. It was because of his… books-." Kushina seethed with an angry blush on her face, "-Was how Naruto got his name."

A smile then formed on her features, "Not to mention Jiraiya's always been like a father to me and Minato."

Ichigo grunted, patting baby Naruto on his head before removing his hand from his blond hair entirely, baby Naruto just looking at everything in fascination, "Anymore?" Like what made them special.

"Yep," Kushina chirped as she and Ichigo started to walk towards the Uchiha-compound again, "During the Second Great Shinobi War lady Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were honoured by being given the title 'the legendary sannin' by a powerful shinobi named Sanshōuo no Hanzo (Hanzo of the Salamander). Lady Tsunade-sama told me all about that." Hanzo must've been a powerful ninja then.

Well Ichigo would've more than likely just blown the three teammates of Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru asunder with his patented Getsuga Tenshou if it had been him who fought them. However, by their standards, they were pretty strong.

This Hanzo-man must've definitely been powerful if he were able to school them in battle and then leave them alive, but not before giving them a title in respect of their accomplishment.

Meh… pure assumptions, either-way, Ichigo outclassed them all.

But there was still one thing left on Ichigo's mind, "Orochimaru. You seem suspicious of him." Ichigo said simply.

"I was that obvious, huh." Kushina deadpanned as she and Ichigo along with baby Naruto ventured closer to the Uchiha-compound. Ichigo grunted affirmatively, prompting Kushina to explain why she was suspicious of Orochimaru, "I just can't feel secure around the guy, ya' know? He gives off this eerie aura as if he wants to kill everyone he sees just for the pleasure of it. Add to the fact he told Jiraiya he'll live forever to gain mastery of all jutsu out there."

"_You should be wary of that man Ichigo_." Zangetsu advised. "_If it's not for yourself, then keep your guard up around him for that woman and her son. I would not put it pass a guy like him to find out the boy's secret. Though, it'd be unlikely of him being compatible to the construct of chakra within the boy_."

Ichigo let out a grunt of acknowledgement. One of the few things he could do to repay Kushina's kindness was to assure that her and her son were well protected, "You should not worry." Ichigo murmured, making Kushina look at him as they reached the Uchiha-compound and walked through the entrance. "All threats to you or Naruto will be annihilated." Ichigo assured apathetically.

Kushina blinked a couple of times as the members of the Uchiha-clan turned heated glares onto them, seeing as they never had the Uchiha-clan's distinctive black hair nor did their clothes hold the symbol of the Uchiha-clan, "Oh. Thanks Ichigo-kun. I appreciate that."

Ichigo grunted again as his eyes shifted from side to side noticing the hate filled glares of the shinobi of the Uchiha Clan. That wasn't too surprising, since the compound was located quite the distance away from any other clan compounds and the rest of civilianization of Konohagakure no Sato.

"You've noticed it then." Kushina suddenly whispered, getting Ichigo to turn his eyes onto her, "The Uchiha-clan aren't exactly well-welcomed around Konoha anymore, hence the hostility. I only come around here just to see my friend Mikoto-chan, because nobody's gonna stop me from seeing my friend dattebane!"

Ichigo hummed as he and Kushina reached a big Japanese-house that Ichigo dubbed as the head of the clan's place of living since it was by far the largest building within the compound, "Here we are!" Kushina declared brightly, knocking on the door multiple of times.

It took a few minutes but eventually the door slid open to reveal the usually grumpy figure of Fugaku. His eyes immediately narrowed on the huge figure of Ichigo carrying baby Naruto in his arms and the hidden ones of the ANBU in the shadows, 'He must've arrived in the village recently.' That made sense. The Hokage wouldn't just let anyone roam free around the village.

The awkward silence made Kushina grin tentatively, "Well?" She asked with her hands on her hips.

"Good evening Uzumaki-san." Fugaku greeted, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but the blue-kimono wearing man was not to be fooled as his cold, deadly brown eyes narrowed slightly, making Fugaku narrow his own eyes, "I take it this is your acquaintance Mikoto-san spoke of."

"Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki." The stoic one introduced himself.

"Fugaku Uchiha. I am the head of the Uchiha clan and chief of the police force. May this visit of yours and Uzumaki-san's all go according to plan," The Uchiha said.

"Indeed." Ichigo replied before a delighted squeal echoed throughout the air, making Kushina squeal in return.

"Kushina-chan!"

"Mikoto-chan!"

The blue haired lady came rushing past her husband and into the arms of the red haired woman in a show of sisterly affection.

"I'm so glad you could make it." Mikoto smiled with one arm wrapped around Kushina's head and the other one wrapped around her mid-back and this action was mimicked by Kushina.

"We're glad we could make it too, dattebane!" Kushina cheered. How she loved this woman like the sister she never had. She hoped baby Naruto and baby Sasuke would see each other as cousins due to the bond the two boys' mothers shared with one another. And of course Itachi would be seen as an older cousin of Naruto's.

The 'we' in Kushina's sentence made Mikoto break the warm embrace and look over at the orange haired man whom was carrying Kushina's son, "You must be Ichigo. I heard about you from Kushina-chan." Mikoto smiled kindly at Ichigo, receiving a calm hum out of Ichigo before the blue haired woman turned her attention to the little baby in his grasp, "Awww. And how are you doing little Naruto-chan."

In response to the woman's show of affection baby Naruto rested his head against Ichigo's shoulder, as if he were tired, making Mikoto coo, "Naruto-chan seems fond of you Ichigo-san." Ichigo shrugged his shoulders, stroking baby Naruto's hair.

Mikoto turned back to a smiling Kushina, "Dinner should be ready in 20 minutes you two, Sasuke-chan's sitting with Itachi-kun in the living room if you want to put Naruto-chan in there with him."

Ichigo hummed while Kushina spoke up, "Alrighty then!" Kushina and Mikoto walked into the house followed by Ichigo after Fugaku had sauntered off into the house. The elegant smell of delicious cooking was in the air, making Kushina smile widely, "Hmm! That smells like a dish of your homemade meat and potatoes."

"I see your nose for food hasn't changed either Kushina-chan." Mikoto said with a giggle and Kushina grinned cheekily.

Kushina looked at Ichigo, "Can you take Naruto-chan to Sasuke-chan for me please? I'm gonna go in the kitchen and chat with Mikoto-chan." In a man's language that translated for a long tedious girly chit-chat that'd inevitably put a man to sleep, so of course Ichigo nodded, not wanting to endure that form of torture.

Mikoto cupped her mouth with her hands, "Fugaku, honey, can you show Ichigo-san to the living room."

"Of course. It's of no hassle for me to do so, dear." Fugaku said professionally, as if he were getting paid to act formal for the day, making Kushina frown while Fugaku showed himself and gestured for Ichigo to follow him, to which he did after taking Kushina's nappy bag for Naruto off of her hands.

"Sometimes I worry about your love life Mikoto-chan." Kushina stated matter-of-factly, hands firmly planted on her hips.

"Kushina-chan!" Mikoto scolded the red haired woman.

"What? It's not like I questioned you on your sex life." Kushina defended her innocence righteously, grinning like a cat.

"That's even worse!" Mikoto winced with a blush adorning her features.

Kushina waved her hands dismissively, "Oh c'mon now! You can tell a girl about those sorts of naughty things you get up to with your husband! That's what girlfriends are for." Kushina sang. Sisterly love was for the win!

Mikoto let out a sigh, "Whatever you say Kushina-chan." Kushina grinned and followed her closest friend into the kitchen before Mikoto spoke up, "So tell me about Ichigo-san. What kind of jutsus does he use if he has any?"

Kushina placed her index finger on her temple and tensed up her face up as if in deep concentration, "Oh yeah! I never asked him yet! Haha!" Mikoto palmed her face. Her friend's laid-back attitude was infectious, "Oh. But he did tell me he's a samurai."

"That's quite the huge sword he has for a simple samurai." Mikoto deadpanned as she and Kushina stood in the kitchen overseeing the food cooking.

"He has a big one." Kushina grinned.

Mikoto shook her head with a wry smile on her features, "The things that come out of your mouth make me question your age sometimes, Kushina-chan." Kushina pouted before she realized what Mikoto was implying. A shock expression appeared on Kushina's face before a relaxed smile spread across her features after the shock vanished.

"I guess you're right, dattebane!" Kushina chirped brightly.

Mikoto giggled before looking at the window seriously, "So I take it lord Hokage-sama has Ichigo-san under probation." Mikoto said, referring to the ANBU stationed outside of the house, 'stealthily' hidden within the shadows.

Kushina's grin dropped off of her face, "Yep. But you know something; I think Ichigo-kun can sense them without even trying." Kushina's grin reappeared even bigger than before. "He hasn't once lost track of their location! Isn't that something? Dattebane!" Mikoto smiled at her friend.

"It's something else alright."

xXx

(With Ichigo – Fugaku – Itachi – The two babies – Living room)

xXx

"You can place the baby there." Fugaku suggested as he pointed at a chocolate brown sofa with Itachi sitting on it with a book in his hands and baby Sasuke resting against the sofa dressed in a little dark blue jumpsuit.

Fugaku smiled proudly at his son, "Ah. I see you're studying hard to bring this clan back to its glory days once again, eh Itachi-boy."

Itachi looked up from his book calmly, "Of course father." He pointed at Ichigo who emotionlessly placed baby Naruto next to baby Sasuke and put the nappy bag down on the floor, "I take it this is the friend of Kushina-san mother was referring to, right?"

"Affirmative. His name is Ichigo Kurosaki." Fugaku droned.

"Ichigo-san." Itachi said as if testing out Ichigo's name.

"Itachi." Ichigo replied, taking Zangetsu off of his back before sitting on a single sofa.

It was quite the calm atmosphere before Fugaku decided to speak up, "So, the way you casually took off of that giant sword of yours off of your back makes me think you have some power." Ichigo didn't grace him with a look. "It's quite the sword if I do say so myself."

"It kills." Ichigo said.

That was what a sword did. Either-way one looked at it a sword was a weapon used to inflict a great deal of damage on one's opponent. Blood would inevitably stain one's hands the more they swung their blades around.

Fugaku nodded, "You sound like you've had the displeasure of killing someone Kurosaki-san."

"I've seen my fair share." Ichigo answered cryptically, "My power's risen because of it."

A smirk spread itself across Fugaku's features, "Do you think you could defeat me?" He was curious now. This was a man the Hokage had tailed for crisis sake! He had to be powerful in some way, shape, or form, or at the very least a danger to the village. If Fugaku could defeat him then maybe the Hokage would see the Uchiha clan as a more prominent clan in Konohagakure.

"Perhaps." Ichigo contemplated calmly, making Itachi look at him.

Fugaku smirked arrogantly, "Perhaps a little sparring match is in order. Does that sound satisfactory to you, Kurosaki-san?"

Ichigo hummed. Why not? He hadn't had a decent warm up since he used to purify hollows. Ichigo stood up, walking towards Fugaku without his sword, something that made Fugaku raise his eyebrow, "Aren't you going to need your sword to fight Kurosaki-san." A shake of the head came from Ichigo, making Fugaku clench his fists as fury filled his eyes.

Who did this swordsman think he was? How dare he even hint that he could subdue him, the chief of the police force and the head of the Uchiha clan without his sword!? Did he not know of their special ability, the ability all Uchiha clan members possessed, eh? Or was this foolish man just that ignorant that he'd blatantly ignore the fact that they, the Uchiha-clan members, had quite possibly the most powerful Doujutsu in all of Konoha! No! The world!

"You should calm yourself father." Itachi urged him, not liking his father's arrogance rearing its ugly head as his father continued to shake with rage, "It's of no real stress at all. Ichigo-san was merely implying that he wouldn't want the spar to get out of hand before dinner." Ichigo was impressed by the boy's maturity.

"Silence Itachi!" Fugaku commanded and Itachi obeyed as Fugaku looked at Ichigo with a cocky smirk on his features, "I'll make you eat those words, Kurosaki-san." Words? What words? He didn't even say anything? "Follow me." Fugaku said, walking off to the backyard that acted as a training field to him and his family. Ichigo shrugged his shoulders and followed after him, leaving Itachi shaking his head while the babies idly giggled with each other, intertwining their pinkie fingers together like they were the best of friends.

"The clan's arrogance will be the death of them."

xXx

(Backyard)

xXx

After Fugaku had got his pouch from his studies, he led Ichigo to the backyard to begin their sparring match, "I'll give you one last chance Kurosaki-san." Fugaku warned, standing up with his arms crossed over his chest in a beautiful field with a rival stream, a high cliff, and a plenty of trees, "Go back inside and retrieve your blade. Otherwise this could end badly for you."

Ichigo did not reply. He merely stood casually, allowing the bangs of his hair to cover his eyes. Fugaku, seeing this, took it as a signal to start the fight.

"You're loss." Fugaku said nonchalantly, taking out a kunai and chucking it at Ichigo, smirking once he saw Ichigo's unmoving figure, 'This ought to teach you not to underestimate the might of the Uchiha-clan.' His eyes widened once the kunai bounced off of Ichigo's face, causing sparks to fly through the air as if Ichigo was made out of steel.

"What kind of jutsu is that?" Fugaku asked, keeping his voice low as the kunai he threw at Ichigo fell to the ground without even putting a cut on Ichigo.

"You will have to insert more power into your strikes than that to harm me." Ichigo told him impassively, receiving a snarl out of Fugaku.

"I think I can do that quite well Kurosaki-san." Fugaku assured, managing to return to his calm demeanour as he whipped out five kunai knifes from the pouch on his backside before twirling them around rapidly. Ichigo could see a gleam between the kunai knifes before Fugaku let fly at him.

Once again Ichigo was prepared to tank the soaring metal-things of death (to a normal human) until Fugaku smirked and flashed through a series of hand-signs, landing on the tiger seal, "**Katon: Shikō no taihō Jutsu (Fire Release: Supreme Cannon Jutsu)**!" A powerful mass of blazing fiery chakra erupted from Fugaku's mouth in the form of a long cannon wave of fiery chakra that travelled straight in the direction of the hurled kunai knifes as if ninja wires were leading the powerful jutsu to Ichigo.

'Dodge.' Fugaku ordered mentally, preparing to dash to the side with a kunai and an explosive tag in his grasp, but ended up raising an eyebrow slightly as he saw Ichigo's unflinching figure as if he were frozen to the spot by some genjutsu. 'Why won't he dodge? Does he want to be burned to ash-?' He cut himself off as the orange haired shinigami was shrouded in the burning flames of the **Shiko no Taiho Jutsu (Supreme Cannon Jutsu)**, "Idiot." Fugaku growled out in shock. He knew it was a speedy jutsu as he attached wires to the kunai knifes he chucked at Ichigo meant to give the fire an added boast of speed.

It was also meant to shock Ichigo to see how fast fire could travel. Fugaku still expected Ichigo to dodge though, if only barely. Then he would've capitalized instantaneously. It was just too bad it never turned out the way Fugaku planned. Right… now he had an explanation to a soon-to-be-distraught-Uzumaki for murdering her friend.

Not that he cared about her, but explanations were annoying.

…Especially ones that he never planned to give.

xXx

(Near the Battlefield)

xXx

The ANBU that were stationed to watch over Ichigo all had to pick up their dropped jaws at seeing the lunatic blue-wearing kimono samurai casually stand in the same place while the powerful stream of fire soared to him, engulfing him in its intense flames once it got close enough to do so.

"Is he a dumbass?" The purple haired girl of the group asked her comrades, "Was he trying to get himself killed or what?"

"It's believable that he would do so." Another one murmured in a masculine tone of voice as he emotionlessly watched the blazing flames 'eradicating' Ichigo. He was only assigned to observe the man to make sure he didn't try anything that could've disrupted the peace in Konoha.

Assuring that the man lived wasn't in his contract.

"You think the man purposely let himself be killed to get away from our observing eyes," A feminine voice spoke up in the same impassive tone of voice as her husband.

"But that doesn't make any sense." The shortest one of the group stressed, grabbing her long purple hair in an exasperated manner, "That man has literally been schooling us on how we hide! We've never once successfully stayed hidden out of his field of awareness!"

"Calm yourself child." The male of the two adults commanded calmly, making the purple haired girl pout. He wasn't too mad at her. She was still a newbie in training. Truth be told this sort of assignment should've been left to the professionals, the veterans, but the two guardians of the girl insisted on taking the assignment of watching the potential dangerous man until he was deemed not a threat to the leaf, so the purple haired girl could gain some sort of experience.

A potential threat indeed since Ichigo had proven he could tank hits of metal-sharp-weapons that could easily slice and dice most warriors and normal humans into shredded onions. One would not assume such a powerful man to be suicidal, especially one that endured a year of torture on his psyche.

Those kinds of torture were always the worse. Usually humans could recover from a tremendous beating delivered to their bodies, because after all time healed all wounds. However, an assault on one's mind could be life-scarring and leave them in a bad way forever, to the point they'd be willing to spew all of their secrets just to make the torture stop.

Ichigo did no such thing.

He endured the torture stoically.

The adult woman sighed indifferently, "We should infor-." Her words were cut off as she and her partner bared witness to something that'd in long last broke the emotionless duo out of their shells, as visible shock could've been seen clearly on their faces if their masks weren't covering their faces. The man even quickly slammed his hand against the young girl's mouth to silence a bloodcurdling scream that threatened to erupt.

The Uchiha was left shitting himself as he believed he was staring at a demon in human form.

And his name was Ichigo Kurosaki.

xXx

(Moments Before with the women in the kitchen)

Mikoto bent down and pulled open her oven to check on the food, "it shouldn't be much longer now," Mikoto assured, shaking the oven tray with the still cooking meat and potatoes in it. She was oddly surprised her dear friend Kushina didn't chirp, "Kushina-chan?" Mikoto asked, standing up to glance at Kushina who'd a look of contemplation on her face

"Ya want to know something? Ichigo-kun and I ran into Orochimaru earlier." Kushina admitted, leaning back against the counter.

"You mean the snake sannin?" Mikoto shuddered and Kushina nodded. "I was relieved when lord Hokage-sama didn't select him as Yondaime Hokage. Imagine how freaky that would've been." Mikoto let out a humourless giggle, trying to relief the tension Kushina made involuntarily.

"Yeah… he would probably make off with Hiruzen-sama's scroll of forbidden jutsus." Kushina joked before letting out a laugh afterwards.

"So what was Orochimaru's reaction to Ichigo?" Mikoto pondered.

"It was cryptic and creepy as always." Kushina stated in a bubbly manner, smiling hugely.

Mikoto laughed, "He makes one believe he's a mad scientist wanting to run tests on a strong shinobi's or warrior's body."

"He did call Ichigo's name exciting." Kushina droned with a finger tapping her chin, "He is named after a strawberry after all." On second thought she could do with an 'Ichigo' right now, "Hmm Ichigo." Kushina moaned jokingly, making Mikoto sweat drop as she reached into her fridge and pulled out a strawberry before throwing it at Kushina who caught it effortlessly, "Thank you Mikoto-chan!" Kushina chirped appreciatively, eating her Ichigo (strawberry) contently.

"No problem Kushina-chan." Mikoto deadpanned and Kushina grinned cheekily, "Well at least you helped lighten the mood after the whole Orochimaru-thing came up." The kind-hearted woman always tried to look at the bright side and her laid-back somewhat childish friend made it easier for her to do so.

Old habits die hard.

"Amen to that!" Kushina cheered before raising her eyebrow in a questionable manner, "Hiruzen-sama doesn't seem to be too suspicious of Orochimaru. Though, I suppose that's to be expected with snaky being a former student of his." Kushina accepted that as a plausible reason for why Hiruzen would not see any malevolence within his old student.

"Well I believe the reason for that is because lord Hokage-sama is an-…" She abruptly coughed, "…Ancient man. Let's face it, lord Hokage-sama isn't exactly getting any younger. He probably wants to see the best in everyone which is probably the reason why only three ANBU guards were assigned to watch Ichigo." Mikoto explained sensibly, getting an incredulous look from Kushina.

"Are you trying to say I'm too trusting?"

"I would say that description of you sounds pretty much accurate." Mikoto giggled and Kushina pouted.

"Well in my defence Ichigo-kun did declare his desire to assure that me and my baby-boy Naruto-chan were safe from any threats." Kushina defended.

"They always did say that they'd a code of honour." Mikoto said thoughtfully, "Samurais that is."

"That's what I'm saying dattebane!" Kushina chirped brightly, "Although I dunno if Ichigo-kun could beat Orochimaru, because that would mean he could beat Jiraiya!"

"How strong do you think Ichigo-san is?" Mikoto asked curiously.

"I wouldn't know, but my guess is that he is pretty strong." Kushina shrugged with a smile on her face. "I'm kinda excited to see how strong Ichigo-kun is." As if answering the-once-hot-headed-now-laid-back-girl's prays, a blazing sound of some kind of firework echoed throughout the air, "What's that?" Kushina raised an eyebrow.

"I think I have an idea." Mikoto turned down the temperature on the oven before gesturing for Kushina to follow her, "Let's go check on the lads, I think Fugaku may be practicing his fire techniques in the backyard again."

"You think Ichigo-kun's out there sparring with him?!" Kushina inquired frantically, eyes lighting up with hope of seeing some of Ichigo's true power, because it would be fantastic to see how Ichigo compared (or overwhelmed) against the head of the Uchiha-clan and chief of the police force.

Mikoto sweat dropped at the red headed woman and sauntered into the living room to see Itachi calmly reading his book while the two babies giggled with each other with their pinkie fingers intertwined with one another. Mikoto smiled happily at the babies, believing that the two would grow up to be the best of friends.

"Hiya Itachi! Have you seen Ichigo-kun and Fugaku-san around anywhere?" Kushina questioned the young Uchiha brightly, making Itachi merely lower his book before pointing his index finger at the direction of where Zangetsu was.

"Father insisted on seeing Ichigo's power." Itachi elucidated.

Kushina tilted her head to the side, "Ichigo-kun didn't take his sword with him! But I thought samurais needed their swords for everything based around fighting."

"It is only a spar their having." Itachi reminded her matter-of-factly, knowing swords were for killing and not for sparring with a host that had a chip on his shoulder, "By the sounds of it father just unleashed his new fire jutsu on Ichigo-san. He must've been frustrated."

Mikoto ran her hand through her hair, "Fugaku can get so infuriated with anyone even showing him the slightest amount of mercy… even if he and his opponent are only sparring." Mikoto finished with a deadpan look written all over her features. Fugaku's pride wouldn't allow anyone to underestimate him or the Uchiha-clan as a whole! He'd the strong belief burning within the depths of his soul that the Uchiha-clan and all its members were one of the strongest clans in Konoha!

Some samurai refusing to face him in battle without his chosen weapon of choice was always going to hurt him… or his rear-end more like.

Someone might need some lube for that later.

"Well let's go outside and catch a glimpse of the spar then!" Kushina had an eager grin on her features as she jogged over to the two sitting babies and bent down to look at her son, "Does momma's little boy want to see Ichigo-kun kick some butt?" Baby Naruto giggled cutely, flashing his mama his gums before she picked him up and kissed his forehead.

"That's right! Yes you do." Kushina giggled as she rubbed her nose against baby Naruto's, making Mikoto smile at her best friend's motherly show of affection for her son.

"How do you know that Ichigo-san'll win so easily, Kushina-chan?" Mikoto asked in a jesting manner as she strolled over to baby Sasuke and picked him up before tickling his tummy, making him laugh adorably.

Kushina hit her lip with her index finger a couple of times with a pensive expression on her face, "I guess I was just rooting for my team!" Kushina excused humbly, "After all he is my roommate. I like to believe that those associated with me have the strength to overcome their opponents, dattebane!"

Mikoto shook her head in amusement before turning to Itachi. "Dinner shouldn't be much longer now, Itachi-kun. Can you keep an eye on it for me?"

"I'm pleased to hear that mother. And yes, it's of no problem for me to do that for you." Itachi said with a genuine smile on his face. Mikoto grinned and affectionately ruffled Itachi's hair, finding it exceedingly hard not to brag with how well Itachi had turned out. He'd good manners and he was the academy's top student. Other parents (usually the mothers) of the Uchiha-clan often approached Mikoto and asked-. No, _begged_ her to tell them her secrets regarding the makings of a wonder-child in Itachi Uchiha.

He was the perfect son all round.

Mikoto walked over to the door with baby Sasuke in her arms and gestured for Kushina to follow her.

"Don't you want to watch the fight between your father and my roomie Itachi?" Kushina asked the prodigy who merely returned to reading his book.

"There's no need for me to do that, as I already know the results." Itachi insisted smartly, making Kushina smile as she noticed the book he was reading.

'It's a book on chakra control.' Kushina thought before venturing over to a patiently waiting Mikoto, 'I hope you follow Itachi's example when you grow up, Naruto-chan.' Kushina gleefully tickled baby Naruto's stomach, making the blond-baby laugh while she and Mikoto made their way to the training field to witness the sparring match between Kushina's roomie and Mikoto's husband.


	4. Cream of the Crop

**Disclaimer: I don't Bleach or Naruto**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**The Cream of the Crop **

xXx

(Training Field – Ichigo vs. Fugaku)

Ironically, as the sun anchored downwards, as if wanting to get to sleep for the day, leaving the sky as bright as Ichigo's carrot top hair, the stoic one sauntered out of the dispensing flames of Fugaku's ultimate fire jutsu without so much of a scorch mark on his expressionless face. Not even his clothes were burned.

It was ironic because the flames merely blended into his hair with the help of the orange sky, like a pair of camouflage pants helping one fade into the grass.

'How?' The shocked Uchiha gawked at the casually sauntering form of the samurai. He couldn't even see any flames on his clothes. On the contrary, the Uchiha observed with his stunned-filled eyes the flames of his jutsu dancing off of Ichigo's form as if the orange haired man was insusceptible to the blazing flames of the head of the Uchiha-clan's strongest jutsu.

Fugaku could've sworn he saw a shiny glow around Ichigo's form as the samurai's body gleamed absently, but as he ventured closer to Fugaku the shine disappeared entirely, leaving Ichigo staring down Fugaku with his eyes devoid of any emotions. The eyes of a cold-blooded man who would not hesitant to murder another man deemed a threat to him or his associates.

"What are you?" Fugaku asked in a murmur of a voice.

"Surrender?" Ichigo offered as if that one question was enough to ask Fugaku did he want to throw in the towel and spar another day. Fugaku gnashed his teeth as fury, and a mass amount of it, quickly filled up the holes he called eyes, like crimson red roses filling up the coffin of a poor soul's corpse.

That sheer anger the chief of the police force felt at basically being called unworthy to continue a spar by some clown of a warrior caused him to subconsciously turn on the power, in the sense he would be able to foresee his opponent's moves or even illusions if he attempted to pull any out of nowhere. His eyes shifted from onyx to crimson with irises appearing in his now red eyeballs spinning around once before encircling the pupils of his eyes.

"Your blatant disrespect to one of the most prodigious clans in Konoha is disgusting." Fugaku said steadily, the undying fury evident in his voice as he turned his red eyes onto Ichigo to give him a supreme heated glare.

Ichigo did not blink or grunt at this latest turn of development before he spoke up, "If you choose to continue this spar, I ask of you to please refrain from using any fire-related techniques." A smirk that accentuated Fugaku's pure arrogance found its way to Fugaku's face as he believed he forced Ichigo to use a great deal of chakra to shield himself from his jutsu.

Ichigo held his arm up, "I would prefer it if the clothes Kushina bought me out of the kindness of her heart don't get burned to a crisp," Fugaku blinked at Ichigo's cryptic explanation, "I had to use my aura to assure that these clothes didn't take any damage." If he had other clothes, preferably his own ones paid for with his own money, he would've more than likely bathe in the flames of the devil until the cows came home without his aura activated and came out as fresh as a daisy.

The flames were nothing. It was his clothes Ichigo did not want to get damaged.

"Aura?" Fugaku regurgitated with absolute bewilderment evident on his face. A nod of the affirmation came from Ichigo. Fugaku's whole body shook with rage as he started to realize what Ichigo was subtly implying, 'So he can withstand my ultimate jutsu without a mark on him…! I'll show him.' Fugaku would've charged at Ichigo if the stoic one hadn't shot his arm out like a commanding officer yelling 'Halt!'

"What?"

Ichigo simply reeled in his arm and turned his hand around to jerk his thumb at the direction of the door, making Fugaku look to where he was pointing to see his wife and Kushina with baby Sasuke and baby Naruto in their arms respectively.

"You think this is over because of that?" Fugaku asked and Ichigo grunted calmly, "You must take me for a coward. Someone who'll back down not to embarrass himself in front of his wife is that it?" Ichigo did not hum or grunt while a sigh came from the blue haired woman known as Fugaku's wife.

"Well you're wrong." Fugaku stated firmly, "I am the head of the Uchiha-clan and chief of the police force. A mere samurai cannot defeat me." He assured proudly, flashing through a series of hand-seals before his chest swelled up like a balloon. He held his index finger and thumb in a sideways 'U' shape near his mouth, "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)!"**

"FUGAKU!" Mikoto screamed and Kushina felt dread fill her heart as she saw her roomie's unmoving form. Then that dread was washed away as curiosity rushed into her eyes at seeing the strawberry samurai raise his arm up in super slow motion mode to her. And it remained like that once Ichigo bitch-stepped the fire ball to the side casually, dissipating it instantly, and making shock appear all over Fugaku's and (mostly) Mikoto's faces.

"Whoa… did you see that Naruto-chan?" Kushina chirped cheerfully, an astonish expression as clear as day on her beautiful face as she held baby Naruto out to look at Ichigo, "Ichigo-kun swatted that big old fire-ball away like it was nothing, dattebane!" Mikoto looked at her husband in disappointment after sighing in relief that Ichigo was alright.

"Okay, honey, I th-." Mikoto was cut off as Ichigo started strolling forward to the still gasping Fugaku, "Ichigo-sa-." A grunt from Ichigo cut her off, making her blink as the orange haired man reached Fugaku who closed his mouth and scowled at Ichigo.

"Children." Ichigo jerked his thumb at the two babies in the ladies' arms, "There." He said it as if that explained everything. "It's over." And his voice left no room for argument.

However, the Uchiha-clan's leader and chief of the police force would not accept defeat to Ichigo Kurosaki, "Neve-." That was the wrong choice. The blue glow that suddenly shrouded Ichigo's eyes made Fugaku's sentence die in his throat as he felt as if the very air itself was vibrating around him, making it comprehensively difficult for him to whiff. He collapsed on one knee as if he were lifting up a boulder on his shoulders and it kept on getting bigger and bigger in size.

'What… is th-.' Fugaku could barely register a thought as this incomprehensible force of power sent him to the floor like an upside being with wings on its back while his bones were cracking as the very air itself continued to crush him mightily, "Can't… breath… under-…" He could say no more.

"Forfeit." Ichigo commanded in such a calm tone of voice it sounded more like a suggestion than a request as he continued to crush Fugaku with his reiatsu alone like he was just talking about the weather. Fugaku gave him a reluctant and hesitant nod of his head, inhaling deeply once Ichigo powered-down his reiatsu.

"FUGAKU!" Mikoto screamed with worry in her voice as she surged over to her husband and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?" She got a tentative nod from her husband who continued to inhale deeply while his fists were firmly clenched on the ground and his head was lowered. Mikoto sighed in relief before turning to the blue-clad samurai. "What'd you do to Fugaku?"

"Soul Crush." Ichigo announced.

"Soul Crush?" Mikoto repeated with a puzzled expression on her face as baby Sasuke looked at his downed father, "You used your chakra to almost crush my husband to death."

"Close." Ichigo said as he closed his eyes, "Except I don't use chakra."

"You don't use chakra!" Mikoto gasped and Fugaku stared at Ichigo with wide eyes. What kind of being didn't use chakra? "Is that a samurai thing?"

"Plausible." Ichigo answered cryptically, "I use three forms of energy, reiatsu, reiryoku and reishi." Reiatsu was what he used to pin Fugaku down on the ground. And reishi was what he himself was made out of, but they didn't need to know that.

"What?" Fugaku asked. "That has to be a samurai's power, is it not?" Ichigo nodded simply. What else was he going to tell them? He honestly doubted they'd believe he was a shinigami of godly power. Not that he would care if they didn't believe him, but lying was much easier for him. "What are these powers of yours, Kurosaki?"

"Reiryoku (spirit energy) is the potential within most humans. This concept could also supply for one having a huge amount of chakra, as those with large amounts of reiryoku usually turn out to have a comprehensive amount of reiatsu (spiritual pressure) within them." Ichigo elucidated.

Mikoto and Fugaku nodded tentatively, not realizing that the samurais were moving up in the world. Mikoto looked over to her friend Kushina to find the red haired girl staring at Ichigo in amazement with a bit of contemplation on her face to show she was taking in all of the information being presented to them.

"Reiatsu (spiritual pressure) is the power in use. An experienced warrior could overcome a person possessing reiryoku by possessing even great reiatsu." Ichigo elucidated. "Reishi is merely another skill to increase my power." Ichigo lied smoothly, not interested in revealing he could use reishi (spiritual particles) to walk on the air and that his very being along with fiendish beings known as hollows were composed of reishi.

Just like the planes of the shinigamis' and the hollows' existence were composed of reishi.

"That's really something else Ichigo-san." Mikoto said slowly, receiving a nod out of Ichigo as he looked at Fugaku and pointed at his eyes.

"You want to know how I'm able to change my eye colour huh?" Fugaku smirked and Ichigo nodded. Fugaku sighed as he deactivated his sharingan, "You must not be from around here otherwise you'd know of the Uchiha-clan's doujutsu, the sharingan."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, making Mikoto hold up her index finger, "Doujutsu is an eye power or eye powers as there are more than one of them that are all by-products of certain kekkai genkais. A kekkai genkai is something unique, because only members of a certain clan can inherit a kekkai genkai. The sharingan grants the user the ability to foresee others' movements, can see through genjutsu-illusions, and can even help the wielder mimic other warriors' moves. The sharingan has three different stages, from one tomoe to three. With each tomoe gained the user finds it that much easier to predict someone else's moves." Mikoto explained helpfully.

Ichigo hummed and turned to saunter toward Kushina. Mikoto turned to her husband with concern in her eyes, "Are you going to be okay, Fugaku?" Fugaku didn't reply. He merely stared at Ichigo's retreating form long and hard.

Once Ichigo made it to Kushina, he noticed the stars in her eyes, "That was an amazing display, Ichigo-kun." Kushina exclaimed and then looked at baby Naruto, "Wasn't Ichigo-kun fantastic Naruto-chan?" Baby Naruto just did the 'pick me up' motion with his hands to Ichigo, making Kushina smiled widely, "I think Naruto-chan wants to go to you Ichigo-kun."

Ichigo hummed and took Naruto in his arms, holding him a distance away while gesturing towards the place where Naruto's nappy was located underneath his dungarees, making Kushina grin cheekily, "Someone needs a diaper change. I think he wants you to change him." Kushina guessed and Naruto just attempted to speak in his native baby language.

"I think he's saying he wants big strong Ichigo-kun to change him." Kushina giggled and Ichigo merely closed his eyes as he brought baby Naruto to his chest and walked into the house to get Naruto's little bag with all of his baby things in there. Kushina grinned at her roomie and turned to her best friend with a peace sign as the dark haired woman strolled up to her.

"I say that's one point to Team Uzumaki!" Kushina exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, Ichigo-san is pretty powerful alright." Mikoto agreed tentatively while Kushina looked at a fuming Fugaku still standing in place with his hands balling up into fists.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Kushina asked, blinking her eyes while pointing her finger at Fugaku.

"Yeah I think he just needs time." Mikoto said as she walked into the house followed by Kushina. Kushina and Mikoto walked into the living room to find Itachi coming in at the same time. "I take it dinner is ready, right Itachi-kun?"

"Yes, mother. I turned off the oven after showing Ichigo-san where the bathroom is so he could change Naruto-kun." Itachi said as he sat back on the couch and picked up his book once again.

"He's changing Naruto-chan?" Mikoto gained a glint in her eye, "Someone got lazy I see, eh Kushina." She teased and Kushina rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Sometimes my cute little baby can make such a stinker, ya' know." Kushina smiled. "And besides, he held out his arms to Ichigo-kun to pick him up, so I saw that as a chance to dump the responsibility of changing Naruto-chan onto him and I seized it instantly, dattebane!" Kushina pumped her fist in the air victoriously.

Mikoto grinned with a sweat drop falling off of the side of her face. "That's expert parenting Kushina." She joked before putting Sasuke down on the couch and leaving the living room in good spirits to head into the kitchen and serve out the meal she prepared for the four of them.

"You betcha it is!" Kushina laughed as she spotted Zangetsu leaned up against the wall. She curiously walked up to it and tapped it a few times, "I wonder how heavy this is." She tried to pick it up, but it felt like she was lifting up a boulder as she struggled to even lift the heavy thing off of the wall with both of her hands, "This blade's heavy, dattebane!" Kushina fell on her backside failing to even budge Ichigo's massive sword off of the wall. "Ouch."

"Are you okay Kushina-san?" Itachi asked.

Kushina looked at him, "Yeah! I guess that sword isn't just big for show, ya' know? Dattebane!" Kushina stood up just as Ichigo walked back into the living room with wet stains on his kimono and baby Naruto in his arms while Naruto's backpack was on Ichigo's back, "Hey, Ichigo-kun! Was changing Naruto-chan fun?"

Ichigo didn't reply while Naruto pointed at his kimono, "Goo, ga, gag weee, weey." Baby Naruto tried to say, and Kushina just looked curiously at her son before her eyes soon widened in realization.

xXx

(Flashback – Moments Earlier)

xXx

_Ichigo had the strangest feeling that Naruto actually did want him to change him as he sauntered into the living room and grabbed Naruto's bag before Itachi showed him to the bathroom. _

"_You can use this baby mat to laid Naruto-kun on." Itachi suggested as he grabbed the baby met from inside the bathroom cabinet before resting it on the side. "Mother uses it all the time to change Sasuke-kun." Itachi told Ichigo and Ichigo hummed before Itachi left the bathroom and Ichigo laid baby Naruto down on the mat._

_Ichigo undid the buttons of Naruto's dungarees before pulling it down to little Naruto's feet, revealing his white diaper that had a slight bulge to it that appeared to be the source of the foul stench that flowed through the air once Ichigo pulled Naruto's dungarees down to his ankles._

_He merely disconnected the diaper and lifted up baby Naruto's legs, seeing the brown ball of poo on the diaper. He used his free hand to open up the backpack before pulling out a packet of wet wipes. He then proceeded to clean Naruto's rear-end stoically, pulling the dirty nappy from underneath the blond haired baby after doing so. _

_Ichigo chucked the nappy into the bin after putting it into a deposable nappy bag that'd a beautiful fragrance to it to keep the bad smell from escaping its confines. Ichigo took out a fresh diaper and laid it beneath Naruto before taking out the baby powder to shake some of it on Naruto's private parts and rear-end._

_But fate had other ideas as a yellowish liquid skyrocketed in the air horizontally, and sprayed Ichigo in his face and on his blue-kimono from the direction of baby Naruto. If there was ever a time to frown then it was now, as baby Naruto smiled in all of his innocence while conveniently holding his hands near the cause of the incident and shutting his little legs. _

"_**HA! The king just got sprayed by piss!" **__An unstable voice spoke from within Ichigo's inner world and then proceeded to laugh insanely at the wet-faced Ichigo. _

_Right… The blond haired baby was a mischievous one. _

xXx

(End of Flashback)

"Awww! My baby boy's trying to talk dattebane! Aren't you the smarty pants, sweetie!" Kushina smiled and tickled Naruto's tummy, making him giggle before she remembered the point of the explanation except for the voice within Ichigo's head. He left that part out. "Sorry about that Ichigo-kun." Kushina grinned apologetically at the unfortunate samurai.

Ichigo grunted.

"Tell you what, we'll head home after dinner and tomorrow I'll make you my best dish of ramen… ever!" Kushina suggested dramatically, 'And then you'll have to like ramen or my name isn't Kushina Uzumaki-ramen-loving-Akai-Chishio-no-Habanero, (Red Hot-Blooded Habanero), dattebane!'

She sighed once she neither got a grunt nor a hum out of her roommate, but she quickly regained her defiance with a blazing fire of determination lighting up her eyes, promising Ichigo that she'd do what it took to bring him over to the ramen side of the food chain. And he would love ramen too. Not to sound too full of herself, but a certain golden haired wonder did think her food was fabulous, so who was to say that the carrot-top crusher wouldn't come to adore her food too.

Especially her delicious homemade ramen… dattebane!

"Dinner's ready everybody." Mikoto's voice echoed from the direction of the kitchen, making Itachi put his book down before picking up baby Sasuke and venturing off to the kitchen with Ichigo with baby Naruto in his arms in tow. Kushina followed the carrot-top samurai with a determined expression on her beautiful face.

'He'll like my dinner more… and he'll definitely love my ramen, dattebane!'

XxX

(Outside)

XxX

As Fugaku got up, he turned to the direction of the watching ANBU, 'They must be as shocked as I am by Kurosaki's power.' Was the Uchiha-clan in its entirety really that weak? 'No. Kurosaki's the cream of the crop; he can definitely defeat the other clan leaders.' Because he refused to believe that he could be subdued by a mere fodder of a samurai. Ichigo had to be the cream of the crop, there was no other way to explain how Fugaku was subdued so easily.

With his mind at ease Fugaku ventured into the house for a tense dinner.

xXx

"Reiatsu huh?" The male ANBU said to the others, "These samurais are moving up in the world."

"Why do you think they got rid of such a powerful warrior?" The female asked.

"Who knows? Perhaps the samurais have got even stronger warriors than that man." The ANBU guessed.

"But that guy basically crush'd (crushed) the clan head-guy like a bug with pure spirit power, or something!" The young purple haired girl wearing the cat-mask on her face stressed.

"Take a chill pill Cat." The man with the cheetah-mask on his face ordered calmly, making the one codenamed Cat nod reluctantly.

"It could be that he's just a wandering human that traversed over here after a long and tedious battle with a strong opponent. He was wearing only half of his old shihakusho when we first saw him all chained up in the torture chamber," The woman chimed in her two cents.

"Plausible." The masked-man ANBU somewhat agreed before holding his hands together in the ram sign, "Lord Hokage-sama will desire to know of Ichigo's development. He may be able to shed some light on the situation."

The female ANBU nodded, "Alright. See you soon Turtle!"

"Bye, bye Turtle-kun!" Cat chirped brightly, making a lackadaisical groan from the one codenamed Turtle echo through the air as he shunshin'd (body flickered) away amidst a cloud of smoke with green leaves shrouding it.

"Let's move to the front of the house to keep a better eye on Kurosaki-san." The one codenamed bear suggested as she wore a bear-mask concealing her features from the world. These were the elites, (or elites in training) the silent warriors of Konohagakure no Sato. The ANBU guards had no identity, they were merely tools selected to do the most dangerous and unhanded tasks others didn't want to do. They remained in the shadows and prepared to dish out the righteous justice on the Hokage's command.

Cat sighed, "How strong do you think that Ichigo-guy is Bear-chan?"

"Not sure. My guess is as good as yours dear."

xXx

(Elsewhere within the compound)

A young boy of 14 years old was strolling through the compound as the sun finally fell and was replaced by a full silvery moon that was shrouded by a thick mist. The boy was tall and wore a cloak over a t shirt that had a red and white fan-symbol printed on the back, black trousers, and black toed sandals on his feet.

"My lord said he would offer me power." He murmured to himself as he walked out of the Uchiha compound and made his way to the hideout of one of the most powerful shinobi in the entire leaf village. "Power is a must. With power I can assist the clan to propelling itself to greatness. Greatness it deserves."

The boy always got bullied in the academy, because he came from a clan that was on a slippery slope. The kids blamed his clan in particular for the cause of the Kyuubi-attack one year ago; as rumours spread that the mighty Kyuubi had the sharingan within its massive silts, suggesting that a member of the Uchiha-clan placed it under a genjutsu and commanded it to eradicate Konoha.

He hated that. He tried to fight back but the other kids would gang up on him and beat him into submission. He had cried so many nights, feeling the pain of loneliness shrouding him every day. He was at the end of his rope until a hand of a legend reached out to him.

"_What a shame. I bet you want to prove those other kids wrong. Don't you child?" _He remembered the legend's words the day he met him within an alleyway, curled up in a ball after another brutal beat-down at the hands of those bastard kids, "_You want power_, _so you can righteously show those kids how your clan reigns supreme." _The man was a legend. He accepted the hand that he offered him and followed him to his base after promising him not to tell anyone of his secret lair of operations, "_I can lend you power."_

"I'm coming lord Orochimaru-sama." The young boy gleamed.

xXx

(Hokage's Tower)

xXx

A cloud of smoke appeared within the midst of the small office of Hiruzen. The aged Hokage was revealed smoking on a pipe while looking out of the window.

The Hokage had just finished his huge stack of paperwork with his patented Kage Bunshin no jutsu trick. Good thing too, because that was a lot of paperwork. But they didn't call this old man the Shinobi no Kami (God of Shinobi), the Purofessā (The Professor), for nothing now. A nickname he had been given by his old teachers, the powerful Senju brothers, Hashirama who was the original Shinobi no Kami and his little brother, a supreme master of the water release nature Tobirama Senju.

Yes, Hiruzen had lived a long life as a successor to the Nidaime Hokage Tobirama Senju who was in return a successor to the Shodai Hokage Hashirama Senju. How Hiruzen was looking forward to having the honour of couching his own handpicked successor in Minato Namikaze.

It just didn't work out well.

But hey, he did what he did. Right?

It was a hard choice for Hiruzen when deciding who his successor was. A apart of him really wanted to choose his own personal trained student Orochimaru to be the Yondaime Hokage, however he knew he'd to put his own personal bias to the side for the future of the leaf, his old teammates, Homura and Koharu, offered him advice on that matter as councillors whom only received power if he and his predecessor or successor were dead.

Other than that they could only offer advice to assure that he made the right calls for the benefit of the leaf.

Their first choice for Yondaime Hokage if it weren't to be Minato would've been Jiraiya as they could feel the malevolence that oozed off of Orochimaru in spades! Hiruzen, however, always insisted that his student was a good shinobi deep down as he always saw the goodness in people. That was why he trusted Ichigo and allowed him to live with Kushina and her Jinchuuriki-baby under probation.

"I wonder how Ichigo-kun and Kushina-chan are getting along." Hiruzen smoked his pipe as he thought about the duo. His musings of the two were broke by a cloud of smoke with leaves surrounding it. "Ah. How are things Turtle? I take it all's gone well with Kushina-chan and Ichigo-kun."

"The two appear to be getting along well my lord." Turtle said respectfully, staying in a kneeled position in the presence of his leader as Hiruzen turned around to nod at him. "Furthermore, Kurosaki-san has shown a bit of his true power, effortlessly crushing the clan leader of the Uchiha-clan with a mere raise of his energy he called 'soul crush' after he and Uzumaki-san were invited to the head's house for dinner I believe. We couldn't hear their conversation when they were inside of the apartment my lord."

Hiruzen let out a hum, stroking his beard, "A samurai was able to effortlessly defeat a jonin of konoha. They're definitely on their way up, unless Ichigo was never allied to Tetsu no Kuni (Land of Iron) in the first place. He could be a ronin for hire." Hiruzen contemplated.

"I fear what kind of fire power Tetsu no Kuni has if Kurosaki-san happens to be one of them." Turtle admitted. "He has three powers he uses as a substitute for chakra. One is reiryoku which he explained is the potential for a greater power known as reiatsu which was what he used to floor the Uchiha-clan's leader. He gave a cryptic explanation of reishi to Uchiha-san and his wife that it simply allows him to extend his other powers." Turtle reported and Hiruzen's eyes widened before he sat down on his chair and massaged his temples after resting his pipe on the desk.

"I see. That is all Turtle. I thank you for reporting this new information to me." Hiruzen thanked the ANBU, making him nod as he shunshin'd out of existence. Hiruzen let out a sigh, 'Ichigo-kun could either be an extremely powerful asset to us, even as a ronin for hire or a dangerous enemy…"

It was optimistic about the former though.

xXx

(With Kushina – Baby Naruto and Ichigo)

The trio were now on their way back to the home of Kushina with baby Naruto in Ichigo's arms as Zangetsu was sheathed to Ichigo's back while Kushina carried her nappy bag for Naruto on her shoulder. It was a relaxing evening with a delicious meal Kushina enjoyed and had an optimistic feeling that Ichigo sort of liked it too, as he was only allowed to love her cooking damn it!

And tomorrow he would love cooking her when he came back from his work.

Ichigo looked at the walls right before he and Kushina left with baby Naruto as he seen the clan symbols engraved all along the walls. Young Itachi had spoken about it after his father asked him if he wanted to have the red and white fan of the Uchiha-clan stitched on the back of his shirt. Kushina and Mikoto frowned when Fugaku got a little upset with his son for not instantly wanting the clan's symbol on the back of his shirt. Ichigo could understand where he was coming from.

The man was just too prideful.

The idea of Ichigo taking on mercenary work as a ronin for hire came up in the usual inevitable girly conversation that Kushina and Mikoto shared while Fugaku glared at Ichigo whenever he thought the girls weren't looking. Kushina wasn't a worthy woman so naturally Mikoto wondered how Kushina and Ichigo would be able to cope taking care of baby Naruto, to which Ichigo answered he would find work tomorrow.

"Ya know, Ichigo-kun, you don't have to push yourself so hard for little old me." Kushina stated, trying not to bare Ichigo down with a burden of supporting himself, her and her son, "I got a little money left for me from Minato."

"It's okay. I've endured a lot. Repaying your kindness is not much trouble at all." Ichigo told her, noticing the third ANBU reunite with his teammate after he'd separated from them. Probably to inform the Hokage about he witnessed he guessed.

"Ichigo-kun…" Kushina said softly, Ichigo was such an honest man. She truly respected that about him. With such a trait maybe her little Naruto-chan would grow up to be a respectable man just like Ichigo, "Hey, Ichigo-kun?" Ichigo looked at the red haired woman as she flashed back to their run in with Orochimaru, "Are we friends?"

Ichigo closed his eyes, "In your mind we are what we are." He answered mysteriously, making Kushina pout as she folded her arms underneath her bosom.

"That's two things I need to work on." Kushina smiled as glints appeared in her eyes, "You'll love me and my ramen after I get through with you Ichigo-kun." Ichigo hummed as he and Kushina continued to venture home.

_xXx_

(With Orochimaru)

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" That was what would've been heard if it weren't muffled.

Orochimaru had his hand covering a poor civilian's mouth, (who rudely bumped into him) to stop the bloodcurdling scream from erupting from the man's mouth as blood poured out of the stumps that were once his arms like a running tap left on!

"That should teach you to apologise to someone after barging into them." Orochimaru smirked malevolently, taking a sick sense of satfistication watching the man whimper before he casually and sadistically broke the man's neck, letting him fall to the ground lifelessly.

"Hmmm. It's such a shame the fools around here have such insolence. It hinders them. These people have no ambition of their own and are all content to kiss the wash up old goat's ass." Orochimaru droned as he sealed the dead man's corpse along with the blood in a scroll he pulled out of his flak jacket. Orochimaru ripped off the man's arms so fast and so smooth he actually figured he should shred his skin from the snake he was and evolve into a magician!

Orochimaru the magician sounded just fabulous!

'I'll need to find a suitable body to house my soul if-. NO…_When_ I complete my jutsu.' Orochimaru licked his lips as he started sauntering off to his lair while thinking about all of the potential bodies that could be his, namely that new guy Kurosaki's body, 'Hmm. His body looked strong… just thinking about it gets me all excited.' Orochimaru had to fight the urge to want to release his malevolence as he sauntered through an alleyway.

Ichigo Kurosaki was just one potential host in the long list of many. That red haired woman Kushina Uzumaki was certainly on Orochimaru's list of potential suitors (bodies) to house his soul. She was an Uzumaki. They were known for their long life force and decent amounts of chakra.

It was still unlikely that any Uzumaki-clan member would've gotten the title sannin. Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru all worked extremely hard for their powers, starting from very low or medium chakra reserves and now the three of them had massive reserves of chakra!

They weren't legendary for nothing now!

But even still, a legendary sannin's soul in an Uzumaki's body could equal one frightening shinobi! And they were only two Uzumakis left in the ninja-world! And that was Kushina and Naruto Uzumaki!

He had to target one of them, namely Kushina for obvious reasons.

He smiled eerily at a familiar figure wearing a cloak to conceal his identity, sitting next to a boulder in a leg-crossed position, "Ah. Good to see you could make it Junichi Uchiha."

The boy now known as Junichi Uchiha removed his hood off of his head to reveal his black hair tied back in a ponytail. He smiled at Orochimaru, "I wouldn't miss our time together for the world lord Orochimaru-sama."

"Yes. You want power to lead your clan to greatness." Orochimaru said as he did the ram seal and the uttered the word "Kai" making a bright white light appear before it disappeared to reveal a hidden entrance leading to an underground basement.

Junichi Uchiha frowned, "Not necessarily my lord, but I would love for my clan to be treated equally first and foremost. I hope I haven't offended you my lord." The boy said tentatively.

"That's okay, child. Have you unlocked your sharingan?" Orochimaru asked as he led Junichi down the stairs after activating the illusion of the boulder covering the hole so people wouldn't see it and get suspicious of him. Junichi nodded slowly and activated a one tomoe'd sharingan in each of his red eyes, "Excellent…" Orochimaru opened the door at the bottom of the stairs and allowed himself and Junichi to walk into a room full of bottles with strange liquids in them and a coffin in the corner of the room with the kanji for "Shodai" printed on it.

"You'll make your clan very proud." Orochimaru said, smiling as the boy observed all of his experiments of people's blood who volunteered themselves to Orochimaru to work on their bodies for the greater good. Children were so easy to manipulate, especially ones of such low self-esteem. Junichi couldn't even tell that Orochimaru had no real desire to make him strong and just wanted him for his body, namely the sharingan. And he would get it.

And then Orochimaru would be one step closer to obtaining immortality.

All jutsus in the ninja-world were his and his alone!


	5. Let No Man Stand In Your Way

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I own Bleach. Of course I own Bleach. I use it all the time to clean my toilet. What? That's not Bleach? Oh, you were talking about the manga Bleach... as in owned by our man Tite Kubo. Then no, I don't own Bleach. **

**And hell to the yeah. Juha Bach and the boys are back! Stealthily appearing from the shadows because they were there all along! Whoa... back up, blood! Captain commander Kyouraku is gonna turn on the power against the number one star knight Haschwalth. Mayuri - my boy's showing his intelligence and how he's always three steps ahead of everyone else. Second smartest character after Mr Kisuke. And well done to Toshiro... very good entrance from him at the end standing with Rangiku who always looks hot. **

**Now after a few more appearances of other characters we just need Kenny and Shi no Ichigo-san (Mr Strawberry of Death) to make two epic entrances like badmans... separate of course. First Kenny, fast forward a few chapters later and Shi no Ichigo should saunter onto the battlefield in calm indifference. **

**Juha Bach and the boys are back. Happy days!**

**And this week chapter of Naruto wasn't bad itself with Naruto's stupidity being emphasized. Still the boy had his funny moments, not as great as his ones were in part one of the series but funny nonetheless. **

**Moon Eye Plan time now!**

**Who do you guys think would win in a fight? Whitebeard of One Piece vs Yamamoto of Bleach vs Jiraiya and Hiruzen of Naruto, because those guys can't test to the supreme old men in Whitebeard and Yamamoto themselves. Seriously, Whitebeard and Yamamoto could easily walk into the DBZ-world & give the saiyans a good fight... and I'm being so serious when I say that. They are powerful as all hell!**

* * *

Orochimaru watched with disturbed gleams in his golden eyes and one arm crossed horizontally over his chest while his other one was leaned on top of the one close to his body so he could rest his chin on his hand. His long tongue slithered out of his mouth as he deliciously noted his prey on his hands and knees panting heavily from the training session the snake-man had put the no-talented young Uchiha through in a training room next to the one where all of his bottles and samples of experiment was located.

'Kukuku. He's growing exponentially well under my teachings. The boy's a diamond in the rough. Hmm. It's a shame the fools teaching him within the academy fail to see such rare talent in the boy,' Orochimaru desirously imagined a three tomoe'd sharingan spinning within his crazed fantasy world… a world ruled by a devilish snake. 'Mmmm. It gets me all excited… soon it shall be mine. Kukukuku.'

Orochimaru dashed over to the boy so fast it looked as if he performed a sonido, to a lesser extent than the mighty beings with white masks covering parts of their bodies that one orange haired shinigami and comrades had fought in the past.

Junichi flinched as he was just getting up to try his Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu again. He only had enough chakra for two bursts of his clan's signature jutsu.

Orochimaru rested his hand on the kid's shoulder, "That's enough for today child. No need to strain yourself."

Junichi's eyes gleamed in defiance, "No my lord. I can still fire off another…" He couldn't even finish his sentence as his eyes grew too heavy to keep open and he almost collapsed onto the ground if not for Orochimaru who caught the stubborn boy.

"I know… I don't doubt your loyalty to the course." Orochimaru assured, subtly feeling up the boy he held in his arms with something akin to lecherousness in his golden silts, "But you've nearly burned out your reserves unfortunately. You'll die if you use up all of your chakra."

"Damn I'm so weak." Junichi angrily berated himself, "No wonder I can't pass the genin exam."

Orochimaru forced the boy up straight, keeping his hands on his shoulders while massaging them to loosen the tension within the boy, "Now. Now. Child. You are only human after all. You have your limitations… for now. I shall lead you under my wing to power child." The snake man promised, reassuring the boy of his worries as Orochimaru let the boy go and eased him off in the direction of the door, walking back into the main laboratory room before walking over to the entrance of Orochimaru's secret lair within Konoha.

"Okay, my lord. Thank you for believing in me. I won't let you down!" The boy promised resolutely, getting Orochimaru to chuckle as they past that legit 'fake' coffin with the words, 'Shodai' printed all over it. Well no one said Junichi's master wasn't an experimenter. He had a fetish was inventing extraordinary semblances of stuff belonging to that of his idols.

At least that was what Orochimaru told him.

The cold air of the night penetrated the boy's skin and made him shiver as Orochimaru pushed the door open; dispelling the genjutsu to let the boy out, "Think nothing of it child. I merely wish to see that you get the justice that is rightfully yours." Junichi smiled weakly at Orochimaru and bid him a goodbye with a wave of his hand before tiredly treading outta Orochimaru's hidden liar.

Orochimaru closed the door and sprawled his arms on the door after giving it his back with a moan of sickly pleasure coming from his lips, "I'm so close to obtaining those gorgeous eyes of theirs, I can almost taste it." Orochimaru brought his fingers to his lips, licking them, bringing them to his nose, and then sniffing them indulgently, "Ahhhhhh." Orochimaru moaned.

Orochimaru walked over to the coffin and swung it open with gusto, a corpse of a long black haired man wearing a suit of red armour, black trousers, geta sandals, a konoha forehead protector wrapped around his forehead fell out of the coffin and onto the floor.

Orochimaru picked up the body of Hashirama Senju: The Shodai Hokage and the man whom founded Konohagakure no Sato with his friend and rival Madara Uchiha, the strongest Uchiha to ever grace that lowly clan with his presence alone. They were truly gods among men, especially this man Hashirama Senju.

It was stated that he was so tremendously strong that he could control all nine constructs of chakra and even gave eight of them out to the other villages as a peace-offering to end all wars while allowing the strongest of all constructs of chakras, the Kyuubi no Yoko, to chill around Konoha until it was taken away by Madara and used against Hashirama Senju at the infamous valley of the end.

Not much was known about that fight except that the Kyuubi inexplicably escaped Madara's clutches and leap-frogged away from the man whom could control it effortlessly with those eyes of his. Other than that it was made a known fact that Hashirama erased Madara from the shinobi-world, but never recovered his body… such a shame Orochimaru mused.

But the abilities the snake-man could obtain with Hashirama's cells implanted within his very own being… well let's just say it would certainly be worth the ride. Of course being a teammate of Tsunade Senju, Orochimaru was flawlessly able to grasp a fair bit of what little was divulged of Hashirama's abilities, as the blond female basically bragged about the original Shinobi no Kami's power!

Orochimaru desired that godly power for himself!

He needed it!

He would be one step closer to clasping his true prize… immortality.

Perfection would be his!

He'd have to run some tests say, implanting Hashirama's cells into some chosen worthy subjects to make sure it was safe to infuse the cells of one of the most proficient shinobi to ever saunter the ninja-world with his godly foot-steps… at last that was a mere small price to pay for greatness.

Just thinking about all that fabulous power he could have at his very finger-tips turned Orochimaru on as a lunatic smile found its way to the unstable snake-man's face while a crazed look was evident in his orbs. His upper shoulders started moving up and down as a small sound of amusement came from the madman's lips. His belly expanded like a balloon getting pumped up, before the air was sucked out of it.

And then that balloon exploded and released a full on devilish chortle like a comprehensive amount of water breaking through a broken dam!

"HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-H A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA- HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA -HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA- HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA -HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-H A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA- HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

Orochimaru's bloodlust was flaring insanely as a sickening purple aura shrouded his body while the snake-man hysteric laughter continued to vibrate all throughout the room with his hand surrounding his paled face as if attempting to silence his own unstable giggle.

"I've got to calm my bloodlust." Orochimaru told himself, breathing rapidly as he reached into his pocket and took out the scroll he used to seal the poor man's dead body whom he massacred earlier. He licked the scroll frantically, an insane look of a man totally off of his head in his eyes.

He couldn't take it anymore!

He needed blood.

And he desired it right this instant!

He would have it!

Orochimaru sprinted out of his lair within a split second like a man possess, leaping high in the air before landing cat-style on his feet. He reactivated the genjutsu hiding his liar before crouching down on all fours and shifting his head from side to side to eye any potential preys like a hawk's eye with a gruesome grin on his twisted face.

Once he treaded carefully through the streets away from his lair, his eyes landed on a patrolling shinobi walking over a bridge with a torch in his hand. The devilish snake wasted no time as he sprang into action and slithered his way over to the unsuspecting man.

"What's that?" The man flinched as he shifted his body in the direction he thought he heard footsteps only to see nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief, "I must've been hearing things-." He trailed off as a silhouette made its way over to him, putting him on guard as he could see a frightful yet gleeful face edging closer towards him, "Freddy?" The man guessed before it became all too obvious who it was.

It was worse.

"OROCHIMARU!"

Orochimaru embedded a kunai into the man's throat and watched with sickly glee as the poor man choked up blood in his throat. Orochimaru stabbed his whole arm through the man's chest and ripped out his heart, allowing the man to fall lifelessly to the ground, dead. The snake-man licked the man's heart before taking a bite out of it.

"Deliciously filling." Orochimaru droned, sealing up the man's corpse in a scroll. With his bloodlust still not sated, the snake-man stealthily made his way through the village and out of it to begin his hunt for more victims to kill and destroy!

Blood tasted good!

XxX

(White room – Orochimaru)

"I have no more part to play in this chapter..." Orochimaru smirked malevolently.

XxX

**Chapter 5**

**Let No Man Stand In Your Way**

The morning sunlight penetrated the stony face of one Ichigo Kurosaki while simultaneously bathing and defeating the darkness of the sky and turning it into a clear-blue one where the birds could soar through the sky while chirping contently. Through all this the stoic one merely sat leg-crossed on a humongous mountain with his hands lay atop of one another in upside palms and on his lap, the typical meditative pose.

For once he was alone… in a sense. Alone in a training field where the aforementioned mountain he was sitting on was along with a waterfall, dozens of trees, tree posts for training purposes, a memorial stone where fallen ninja had their names engraved on, and a minefield for whatever reason Ichigo did not give a rat's rear end to know why it was there.

There were a couple of people at and/or near the memorial stone but since Ichigo didn't know, and didn't care to know, them he was alone in this sense.

Ichigo's massive cleaver-like broadsword known as the mighty Zangetsu was stabbed into the ground while the white-faced being composed of reishi silently chilled within the depths of his mind, begrudge to give Ichigo any of its power, but knowing it was all for naught to resist not handing over its tremendous power to mighty one as the orange haired shinigami tamed the devilish being within him like a bullfighter bringing a bull to its knees!

But digressing off of that subject Ichigo had managed to get himself some work from the old man in the big tower within this village, hence why he was by himself, as it was for this very reason why Hiruzen decided to call off the ANBU watching him at least for the time being. Now he was here meditating after going back to Kushina's apartment after seeing Hiruzen and getting himself some work.

xXx

(Flashback)

_A soft, delicate, and tiny grip was felt on the tip of Ichigo's nose as the orange haired man was sprawled on the couch of Kushina's apartment in only his kimono pants he wore from yesterday, and a blanket over him given to him by the lovely Kushina Uzumaki._

_Speaking of the devil… "Uh oh! Someone has your nose Ichigo-kun!" Kushina teased in her usual jesting manner._

_Ichigo merely opened his eyes to see the blond haired baby blinking at him wearing bright orange baby pyjamas and a dummy in his mouth, being held up by his red haired mother who was crouched in front of the orange haired man. Ichigo sat up, and tiredly rubbed the sleep out of his eye before a yawn came from his mouth._

"_Gotta get that sleep outta your eye, right Ichigo-kun?" Kushina asked with a huge grin on her face. Ichigo nodded his head before Kushina got down to business, standing up with baby Naruto held in her arms, "Are you still gonna go around to Sarutobi-sama's tower and ask for some work?"_

_Ichigo stood up, letting out a grunt of confirmation before reaching for the bag of the clothes bought for him by Kushina._

"_Do you want any breakfast before you go, Ichigo-kun?" Kushina asked and Ichigo nodded, making Kushina smile brightly, "Alrighty then! I'll meet you in the kitchen, okay?" Ichigo's hum was all the red haired woman was getting out of him before she sauntered off into the kitchen to give Ichigo some time to change._

"_As a warning, Ichigo, blood will be on your hands as of today, are you positive you wish to go through with this?" Zangetsu's calm voice echoed throughout Ichigo's inner world._

_Ichigo simply took off his kimono pants before pulling out a pair of black hakama pants and putting them on, 'All evil shall be eliminated.' Ichigo replied, his hazel eyes turning as cold as the North Pole._

_The devilish composed being of reishi chuckled insanely within his inner world, "**OH! I taught ya well King! HAHAHAHA! Why don't you let me out and we can have a nice little saunter around this world while we put any and all clowns to…' It coughed abruptly, "-Sleep… if they get in our line of fire of course. Heh! Whatddya think King?"** A 'cu-ckoo' inexplicably whistled through the air, making the hollow chuckle dryly._

"_**Meh. It was worth a shot**."_

_Ichigo ignored the white being composed of reishi and pulled out a medium green tiger-patterned (on the back) kimono top before throwing it over himself and tying it shut with a black obi. He slipped on a pair of blue sandals he wore yesterday and walked into the kitchen to be greeted by a lecherous growl from the red haired woman while baby Naruto sat in his high-chair while banging the task with his hands like a wild cave baby._

"_Grrr, Ichigo-kun, who's gonna be your tiger queen?" Kushina joked while Ichigo merely looked at her, making her sigh as she realized her joke hadn't had the desired effects on Ichigo as she wanted it to. So she put on her poker-face to dish Ichigo an ultimatum, "What do you want for breakfast Ichigo-kun? You have two choices, and I'm positive you'll pick the right one!"_

"_Go on." Ichigo breathed out easily._

_Kushina grinned with her eyes shut as she held up two-fingers, "I, the bested ramen-maker ever, can make you a dish of my fabulous ramen, dattebane!" She was half expecting Ichigo to cut her off with a high-five or something, hence why she stopped herself as she believed she'd be making her roomie ramen right there and then. But when it was clear he was patiently waiting to hear the other choice she mentioned it in a sight lackadaisical manner._

"_Or you can have plain old boring cereal… and you have to eat the whole box... dattebane!"_

_Ichigo closed his eyes for a second but it felt like an hour to the red haired woman before he reopened his eyes and started sauntering forward to Kushina's confusion before he bent down near the cupboard, opened it up, and pulled out a large salad bowl._

_Kushina's jaw dropped ludicrously, "You can't really be serious?! Ramen's the bested food in the whole wide world!"_

"_I'd rather have cereal." Ichigo responded truthfully, making Kushina cross her arms underneath her bosom as she did her best attempt to scowl at Ichigo, but due to the laid-back attitude of hers, and her beautiful face it came off as a pout that adorned her features all the more._

"_Fine!" Kushina pulled open the top cupboard where she kept all her none-brand food products before pulling out a plain white rectangle box with two black lines encasing the words 'cereal' in black letters. Where other people had Lucky-Charms, Kushina had cereal. It didn't come with a prize nor did it have any favour to it, it was just meant to fill one's belly, like water was meant to quench one's thirst._

_In fact one could see that Kushina didn't have any named products of any kind. Whereas some may've bought a packet of Maryland from the shop after paying for it obviously, Kushina had cookie – one big, white packet with black lines encasing the word cookie in big, bold, black letters, and only one massive cookie in it. Her jam was plain and her bread was smashed as she couldn't afford fresh bread… good kami, how did this poor woman stay perfectly healthy with cheap, gone-off (more or less) food like this?!_

_Well It wasn't like she had a choice with her baby boy Naruto-chan to tend to, she had to buy the necessities necessary to take care of him, such as nappies, dummies, (he had been sucking on that same one for five months now) clothes, a crib, bottle, toys, a baby travel pack if she ever wanted to go out somewhere with Naruto, and baby foods such as jar food and giving him milk._

_Damn it Minato… now he looked like a genius since it seemed he took the easy way out leaving Kushina to raise baby Naruto on her own._

"_I hope you like plain old no flavoured cereal!" Kushina hollered, her frown increasing while baby Naruto giggled as if he found his mother's behaviour amusing._

_Ichigo nodded and took the cereal box off of the pouting Kushina before he opened it up, and poured all of the contents into the bowl without a second thought. He looked at Kushina, "Milk?"_

_Kushina gained a glint in her eye as a devious smile spread itself across her face, "Oh. I'm sorry Ichigo-kun. I don't have any milk left. Ya know I'm just your average girl." Ichigo stared at her, wondering if this was her diabolical plan to get him to eat and enjoy ramen. Naruto must've thought she won because he seemingly pointed at his mother while incoherently rambling something that sounded like 'winner'._

'_Naruto-chan knows mommy's won this one. She's gonna be making Ichigo-kun her bested ramen ever any minute now, dattebane!' Kushina thought with a triumphant grin on her face as she referred to herself in the third person. Her grin fell off of her face as a look of curiosity was replaced over it as she heard the sound of a running tap coming from behind her._

_She turned around and gasped at what she saw, "Ichigo-kun!" Ichigo had just found an alternative to milk… water! "You can't eat cereal like that, dattebane!" Kushina was dumbfounded as she waved her arms around helplessly._

_Ichigo turned off the tap amidst the claps that came from baby Naruto as if he understood the ingenious way the Shinin no Yōna Ichigo (The Deathly Strawberry) had managed to get away from eating ramen._

_Ichigo looked at Kushina, shrugging his shoulders before reaching into the drawer to pull out a spoon. He walked over to the table and sat by baby Naruto. He dipped the spoon into the bowl and lifted the spoon to reveal little crisp-like bits of cereal flooded by cold water on the spoon before shoving the spoon into his mouth and swallowing it without hesitance._

_It had no taste, but again neither was a no-name brand cereal nor was water meant to have favour. This was one thing that reminded Ichigo of his own world. He could remember sauntering to the supermarket with his whole family before it was just himself, his dad and his two cute little sisters after his mamma died. They would often walk straight past the no-name brand products since they had enough money to afford brand products._

_Thinking about that made Ichigo realize he took his pervious life for granted. Sure it wasn't perfect but at least he and his family weren't poor like he was now with Kushina. He lived in a very nice house, small, but still very well furnished and decorated, and his father supported them well enough that Ichigo never really worried about the income Isshin brought in or the bills he paid. That was probably due to the fact that he was a kid then and hence didn't have a job except to go to school and gain an education so he could be a respectable member of society. Now he was a man living with a blond haired baby and his beautiful mother who kindly took him in in the first place._

_As far as Ichigo was concerned it was his job to support Kushina and Naruto as much as he could._

_Even with the impassive façade he was putting on, Ichigo was still a fair-man that would pay for his own way in life with his own two hands one way or the other._

_Kushina was gobsmacked while she continued to watch Ichigo eat his watered cereal without a twitch of his lips or a blink of his eyes to betray his feelings, 'That's not fair; Ichigo-kun's a big meanie! I'd a special dish I was gonna make him as well.' She then realized just how fast the speedy-man shot past her to the sink. "Whoa! Ichigo-kun! You were like an orange blur, kinda like the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)."_

_Ichigo momentarily paused his devouring of the cereal to stare up at Kushina while Naruto held out his hands to Ichigo's breakfast as if he wanted some. His gaze alone prompted Kushina to explain what that technique was._

"_Oh yeah, the Hiraishin no Jutsu was created by my idol, the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju-sama. It allows the user to teleport to a marked location instantaneously. For example, If Tobirama-sama was still alive and he'd marked the Uchiha-clan compound then he could dash there from anywhere around the village in an instant." Kushina explained happily, "Minato-san actually earned his name as Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō (Konoha's Yellow Flash) by using Tobirama-sama's technique. Minato-san played a prominent role in Konoha merging victorious in the Third Great Shinobi War, using Tobirama's technique. He might be as strong as Sarutobi-sama." Kushina mused. "The cream of the crop though is definitely the Shodai Hokage, Hashirama-sama, followed by his younger brother, Tobirama-sama, at least that's what lady Tsunade-sama told me."_

_Ichigo nodded his head in acceptance. He didn't miss the 'san' that Kushina added to Minato's name. Well that made sense since she had been alone for a year, no less; left by the man she once loved whom gave up his life for the sake of the village. There was always bound to be some slight resentment held towards Minato by Kushina since the man basically put the village before his own family, going as far as to turn his own son into the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko._

_Subconsciously, Kushina was resenting Minato for what he did to Naruto a year ago._

"_They must be strong then." Ichigo murmured, continuing to eat his cereal while a wave of excitement surged through Kushina._

"_Yep! Lady Tsunade-sama would know since she's related to the Senju-clan. Tobirama-sama's her granduncle and Hashirama-sama's her granddad. She told me how her grandfather helped bring in all of the clans including the one I'm from under one roof under his protection, but it was Tobirama-sama who stabilized the clans and united them all, kinda like one big happy family!"_

_Ichigo hummed as a certain clan came to his mind, "The Uchiha-clan." Kushina stiffened up at the mention of her friend's clan, "What of them."_

"_What of them Ichigo-kun?" Kushina repeated with an air of innocence around her, making Ichigo stop eating as he merely put his spoon into the bowl and casted a gaze upon Kushina that made her gulp. She couldn't tell what he was feeling within those hazel orbs of his that held not even a hint of emotion, but she knew he expected that she knew something of the most hated clan within Konoha._

"_They don't feel welcomed within this village." Ichigo said calmly._

"_Okay," Kushina sighed in a defeated manner, "I dunno much of the Uchiha clan just that they were given a position of power within Konoha as the police force by the Hokage."_

"_Which one?" Ichigo asked._

_Kushina frowned, "That's what I wanna know! Hiruzen-sama keeps all the cards close to his chest! It could've been Hashirama-sama, Tobirama-sama, or Hiruzen-sama! One of 'em sent the Uchiha-clan to the back of the village and made 'em the police force." Well that made sense since the police force couldn't exactly be located in the middle of the village now._

_Who was to say a criminal wouldn't break out of prison! If that was to happen then the criminal would be hard pressed trying to flee the village while avoiding the endless masses of shinobi littering the streets of the Uchiha-clan compound and the village as a whole IF the prisoner even managed to escape the compound of the Uchiha-clan._

"_Though that's not why they're hated." Kushina continued, a saddened expression on her face, "I-It was... the Kyuubi." Ichigo looked at Kushina, fascination sinking into his orbs, "Rumour has it that it had sharingan eyes on the night of which it attacked."_

_Ichigo grunted in calm indifference. People obviously died that night. Mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, grandparents, aunties, and uncles all perished amidst at what would seem like inexplicable attack, but of course nothing was done without reason. Someone sought to eradicate the village. And those fortunate survivors had to bear the despair and sadness caused to them by losing their love ones. Ichigo could remember the pain he felt losing his own mother, which turned to hatred. With nothing to vent his hatred at Ichigo blamed himself for the reason why his mother was decimated._

_This was far from the same. The people of Konohagakure no Sato had a target to vent their hate on and unfortunately it was the Uchiha-clan that suffered the villagers unspoken rage and fury, backing them off into a corner like a dozen of trapped cats._

_It still left the question of how an Uchiha was able to control the mighty construct of chakra sealed into Naruto. Ichigo had an idea, flashing back to the conversation he had with Fugaku and Mikoto about the sharingan._

"_Illusion?" Kushina blinked a few times at Ichigo's question, "Do you believe the Kyuubi was under an illusion the night it attacked?" Kushina made an 'O' with her mouth. It was going to take a while until she got used to Ichigo, as he was a man of so few words._

"_Well that's the only way I can see the Kyuubi taking orders from anyone if it were told to thump a village dattebane!" Kushina hollered. That would make sense since gossip was spreading around Konoha about the Kyuubi having sharingan eyes, even genjutsu-masters admitted that the mightiest of all constructs of chakras was under some sort of genjutsu, making Kushina's best friend Mikoto Uchiha along with the rest of the Uchiha clan feel uncomfortable as the villagers' treatment of them was too much to handle._

"_I just wish the villagers wouldn't glare so intensely at Mikoto-chan though." Kushina admitted, a melancholic expression on her face as she thought about her tormented friend and her friend's clansmen. No one should've to be hated so._

_Lucky, Kushina was brought out of her thoughts by baby Naruto making whimpering sounds while reaching his tiny hands at Ichigo's cereal, making grabbing motions with his tiny hands._

"_Oh look who's hungry!" Kushina smiled brightly, walking over to Naruto before picking him up in her arms, "Momma's little boy's hungry, yes you are." Kushina tickled baby Naruto's stomach. Ichigo calmly slurped up his cereal while Kushina fed baby Naruto a tin of green baby food from a jar. Afterward Ichigo sauntered into the living room, grabbed Zangetsu, sheathed him to his back, and prepared to leave for the Hokage's office._

"_Take care of yourself, Ichigo-kun!" Kushina declared, standing by the front-door with baby Naruto in her arms while Ichigo stood on the outside with Zangetsu on his back. Ichigo hummed as Kushina held baby Naruto out to Ichigo, the little blond haired-Cat-faced baby's hands grabbing hold of Ichigo's nose which brought a small giggle out of Kushina._

"_Someone's got your nose again Ichigo-kun!" Kushina teased while baby Naruto laughed adorably. Ichigo merely brought his thumb up, caressing baby Naruto's whiskered-cheek lightly, receiving a sigh out of Kushina who couldn't stop the small smile from spreading across her face. That was the best she was going to get out of the stone-faced samurai._

_With that over and done with, Ichigo sauntered down the road with the ANBU following him closely in the shadows while Kushina watched him disappear in the distance before walking inside with baby Naruto in her arms._

_xXx_

_(Later That Morning)_

_Ichigo made his way over to the Hokage tower, and casually walked up the stairs before standing outside of Hiruzen's office. He lifted his right arm up and banged a couple of times on the door. One knock turned into two, then three, then four, until Ichigo deduced that maybe Hiruzen was sleeping since he sensed his reiatsu signature in his office._

"_Oh… come in, come in." Came a sputter from inside of the room. Ichigo turned the doorknob, and sauntered on inside to see Hiruzen with what looked like markings all over the side of his face and drool coming out of his mouth, "Ah. Ichigo-kun, what can I do for you my boy?"_

_Ichigo allowed the silence to rule the aged Hokage for a couple of seconds before he spoke up, "Money." Hiruzen looked at the powerful orange haired samurai with interest. "Kushina can't support me forever."_

_Hiruzen made a continuous humming noise to let Ichigo know he understood what he meant. He was aware of the fact that Kushina wasn't a rich woman since her husband was dead and he wasn't Hokage for long. Add to the fact Minato never belonged to any clan, so he didn't have a compound or estate, just a house that Kushina didn't want to live in since it brought too many bad memories of the past rising to the surface._

"_I can understand your dilemma Ichigo-kun. However…" Hiruzen trailed off, not wanting to frustrate the man by telling him he couldn't be allowed out of the ANBU's sights._

"_You can send your guards to keep an eye on me if you so desire to. It makes no difference." Ichigo told the old man indifferently, "I shall go out and make some money, and then I'll come back. It's as simple as that."_

_Hiruzen sighed while he reached into his drawer and pulled out his pipe. He lit it before inhaling tobacco smoke and exhaling it out shaped in a circle. 'The boy's obviously a stubborn one.' Not to mention extremely powerful, if the report Turtle gave him was anything to go by, defeating a clan head, a Konoha Jonin no less, was no small feat. 'Perhaps giving him something small as a test could prove the boy's loyalty to Konoha.'_

_Someone skilful would obviously have to escort Ichigo on his mission and report the man's progress to Hiruzen once they return, 'And I know just the person capable of this.' And who knew? If all goes according to plan than Konoha could have themselves a powerful ally in the samurai._

"_Alright then Ichigo-kun, I have a job for you to take." Hiruzen told him, receiving a grunt out of Ichigo as the old man reached into his drawer and took out a folder. He opened up the folder and skimmed through it before taking out a file. "It's a bounty mission. Target, Manabu Yamada, an A-rank nuke-nin, wanted dead or alive for fleeing his village of Iwagakure no Sato. Since then he's gone on to commit several murders, some known genin and even chunin. Last been sighted in Kaminari no Kuni (the Land of Lightning), proceed with caution." Hiruzen briefed the samurai on his chosen mission, sliding the file over to him._

_Ichigo picked it up, "It's already done."_

_Hiruzen allowed a small smile to grace his features, "Ichigo-kun, my boy, I do believe you could make a fine asset to Konoha." Hiruzen said optimistically, getting neither a hum nor a grunt out of Ichigo, "Of course you probably just want to look after Kushina-chan after she took you in out of the kindness of her heart."_

"_I carry my own weight." Ichigo stated simply._

"_That's a very admirable trait you have Ichigo-kun." Hiruzen replied, "Young Naruto could grow up to be a mature man with a role model such as yourself around him, guiding him on his way to becoming a respectable member of Konoha." Ichigo closed his eyes, reopening them after a second to stare at Hiruzen._

"_I shall be sending an elite ANBU to observe your progress if that's okay with you?" A smooth nod of the head from the samurai let Hiruzen know it was, "Splendid." Hiruzen smiled, "I have to say I'm intrigue with how well you'll complete this mission, assuming you do that is."_

"_That I will old man." The Ginger-haired samurai assured, "I can assume you've been given a brief of my abilities by that ANBU outside." Ichigo gestured his head to where the three ANBU were stationed._

"_Indeed." Hiruzen replied, making a signal for the ANBU hidden in the shadows to appear, to which all three did with the woman holding onto the ten year old purple haired girl as she shunshin'd her into the hokage's office along with Turtle._

"_I've given Ichigo-kun a job to do. You three are relieved of your duties of observing him." Hiruzen told the three, getting calm nods from the male and the female ANBU elites._

"_Awww! But I wanted to go on the mission." Cat whined and then looked at Ichigo, pouting, "You're just lucky you're so strong!"_

"_Rest easy, child." Bear commanded, making the purple haired girl yelp, "We understand lord Hokage-sama. And thank you for giving us this opportunity to watch someone of great power such as Kurosaki-san. The trust you've displayed in us as been of most touching my lord."_

_Hiruzen closed his eyes, smiling at the trio, "Oh. You humble me my dear. Rest assured you've all done a fine job. Now, I believe a few hours rest can't do you all any harm. After all you three are only human. And humans need their rest... no?" Turtle and Bear bowed their heads respectfully, with Bear having to scold the purple haired girl with a slap on the back of her head as she insolently crossed her arms over her chest, suggesting that she was hot-stuff._

_Hiruzen merely let out a heartily chuckle as he watched the three saunter out of his office, or in Cat's case march out of his office with a pout. "The young ones these days are so boisterous." The wise old timer commented earnestly, smiling. Ichigo, despite not looking at the girl, sought to figure out what made her tick while forever keeping himself calm and corrected._

_Her insolence could be blamed for the fact that she didn't have any parents, or maybe, like Ichigo, she witnessed her parent or parents massacred before her eyes. It had only been a year since the Kyuubi's rampage on Konohagakure no Sato, so it was a possibility that she was suffering inside. That could be counted for why she'd put on an insolent façade to convince herself that she was a tough girl when in reality she was as soft as a kitten._

"_It's good to see that you're not blaming that girl for her attitude. You've matured immensely, Ichigo." Zangetsu complimented, hearing a mentally thought grunt come from the orange haired samurai in response._

_Ichigo pivoted on his heel to prepare to leave Hiruzen's office._

"_You'll find the ANBU assigned to observe you on your job waiting for you by the South entrance in three hours. I'm sure you can ask Kushina-chan to show you where that is." Hiruzen told Ichigo, seeing a slight nod of the orange haired man's head as he almost forgot about that before he walked out of Hiruzen's office altogether, leaving the aged Hokage with his thoughts._

_Hiruzen spun around on his wheelie-chair and smoked his pipe while looking at the stars in the still night sky._

_He soon turned around to face the wall that had four pictures hung on it, one of himself in his younger days, one of a blond haired man that looked like Naruto's originator, one of a white-haired man that had a look that just said he was a leader, and the last one was a picture of a long brown haired man wearing red armour with a goofy smile on his face like the blond haired man's own goofy smile._

_These were the Hokages. In order of the long brown haired warrior known as the Shodai Hokage, Hashirama Senju, whose picture was on the far left side of the wall. Then came his brother, the white haired man and Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju; his picture was wedged between his brother's picture and Hiruzen's picture who had a genuine smile on his face. Lastly, on the right side of the wall, was a picture of the Yondaime Hokage, Naruto's father, and the man who saved the village from destruction by ensnarling the Kyuubi into his own son, Minato Namikaze._

_Hiruzen looked at the pictures of his two predecessors, the ones that trusted him with the throne and title of Hokage and Purofessā respectively, as if seeking some sort of guidance from his old teachers._

'_Let's hope my judgement wasn't misplaced in Ichigo-kun.'_

* * *

**Hisoka-like Orochimaru **


	6. Beat a Clown For a Crown

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto.**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Beat a Clown for a Crown**

XxX

(End of Flashback)

Ichigo had returned to Kushina's apartment after his visit to the old Hokage. She was thrilled that Ichigo had got himself some work. But then again everything seemed to delight Kushina Uzumaki. She was a cheerful girl alright. Ichigo had a feeling that she knew which elite ninja Hiruzen was talking about, but wasn't spoiling anything for the orange haired shinigami, and that he'd just have to meet whoever was assigned to follow him on his mission for himself when Kushina showed Ichigo to the South entrance of the village.

That was three hours ago.

And Ichigo had told Kushina to go to the entrance without him and that he would seek her when the time to roll on out of the leaf and off on the yellow brick road to the nuke-nin with the talented ninja.

Right now Ichigo wanted to meditate. After spending a year held prisoner in the torture chamber he'd come to enjoy the silence. It suited him well since he desired to be a lone-wolf after his mother died.

Ichigo rose robotically to his feet, gripping hold of Zangetsu before sheathing it to his back. Casually, he allowed himself to descend from the high place that was the mountain after taking one step off of the edge. As his feet made contact with the grass, his head shifted to glance at the mountain.

"_Training to stay in shape never hurts Ichigo."_ Zangetsu advised, knowing what Ichigo wanted to do before the stoic one even had the time to do it. Ichigo nodded, shifting one leg backward while adjusting his other one forward and keeping it bent at the knee. His body twisted as he clenched his right fist and held it at his side at the ready, covering his right fist with his left hand as if he were getting ready to charge up for a kido blast.

"**And King's building up the suspense." **The hollow announced as if it were an announcer. Ichigo's body snapped forward, his arm firing at the colossal rock, and one could see the air-waves basically shrouding Ichigo's arm due to the incredible speed of which his arm travelled toward the mountain at. Ichigo's fist then met the mountain, causing a deep hole to appear within the mountain as the ground quaked from the force of Ichigo's blow. The sound of something cracking let Ichigo know many (cracks) had formed all over the humongous mountain before it literally shattered; separating into million pieces that Ichigo blew away like broken glass of a cup.

A thud and a scream alerted the orange haired man of someone's presence, "WAH!" Spinning around to greet the intruder who had been watching him within the bushes, probably because he'd heard that banging noise right before the mountain was smashed and blown away into tiny pieces, Ichigo seen a pair of legs sticking out of the bush.

Against his better judgement he decided to meet the one who had been spying on him only recently.

xXx

'No way… that guy just destroyed a mountain like it was made outta glass.' Thought the boy who had heard Ichigo's fist colliding with the mountain and rushed over to see what all the commotion was about. Needlessly to say, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. After all what normal shinobi could casually eradicate a mountain with a mere shot of his fist?

That would mean he could decimate the whole village if he wanted to. That kind of power was something of legend. The boy, who was only in the academy, was positive that man was of a supreme S-classed level warrior.

The tan-skinned boy with brown long spiky hair tied back in a pony-tail had a scar running across the bridge of his nose. He wore a white jumper, a konoha leaf symbol printed on the front of the shirt, black slacks, a gold medallion chain wrapped around his neck, and black sandals on his feet.

He was only here to pay his respects to his beloved family members whom were killed in the vendetta of the Kyuubi no Yoko. Lost and alone the tan-skinned boy started acting goofy to hide his pain and convince himself that he was happy, that his parents died putting their lives on the line for the sake of the Leaf. It was because of them was why the young boy decided to enrol in the academy, he wanted to become as powerful as his father and as skilful as his mother.

The boy stood up, casting a sad look at the memorial stone of where he came from, "…I guess I should pull off another prank or something." He sighed, taking his first sad steps on his way to making a little rascal out of himself so no one would feel sorry for him, but froze once he heard the rustling sound of the leaves behind him.

The boy winced when he heard a calm grunt come from a man whom he was sure was the one who had shattered that mountain like glass of a slaughter-house. The boy turned around hesitatingly, falling down on his backside as Ichigo towered over him. At first sight the man daunted him.

"D-Don't h-hurt m-me p-please." The boy begged, crawling further away from Ichigo, "…I w-won't t-tell a-anyone t-that you b-busted t-that m-mountain." He gulped, hearing his heart slamming against his chest as the tall man stared at him with neither a twitch of the eyebrow nor a tug of the lips betraying his emotions.

'What…' The boy swallowed, '-Is he thinki-?' His line trailed off there when Ichigo raised his hand. Thinking the worse, the boy closed his eyes and waited for the pain to befall his head, but it did not come.

An expression of astonishment was casted over the young boy's face once he felt a heavy hand land softly onto his head, making him reopen his eyes to see Ichigo staring off at the memorial stone.

"Loosen yourself." Ichigo recommended, removing his hand off of the kid's head.

The boy nodded somewhat reluctantly, "You're not gonna hurt me are you?" Ichigo adjusted his irises at the boy, and then back at the memorial stone before giving the brown haired boy one shake of his head. The boy visibly exhaled in relief, "I'm glad. After I saw you crumble that mountain I kinda got scared." He let out a humourless chuckle as he hopped to his feet.

Ichigo grunted in understanding while the boy looked at his broadsword curiously, "Whoa! That's a huge sword! Are you like a kenjutsu specialist?"

Ichigo's own eyebrow wanted to lift itself up in curiosity to that but he resisted, "That would be swordsmanship, would it not?" The boy had a confused expression on his face but nodded his head nonetheless, "That I am."

"Ooookay." The boy drawled out. 'This guy's weird. For a minute there it sounded like he didn't know what Kenjutsu is.' The boy wisely kept that part to himself before deciding to ask another question, "What class are you in Kenjutsu-san? You must be like a super S-classed swordsman with that kind of power you're packing!"

"I have no rank." But he had class, he just weren't arrogant enough to say such out-loud, "I trained myself in the way of the samurai." Ichigo told him informatively, making the boy's eyes widen in shock.

"Samurai? Like those guys who live in Tetsu no Kuni?" The boy wondered. He had learned about them in the academy. It was a neutral place and the warriors that inhabited it had never been involved in a shinobi war. In fact all shinobi had long since decided to never get themselves involved with samurai-affairs.

What was one doing in Konoha?

"What're you doing here samurai-san?" The boy questioned.

"I'm merely a wandering samurai." Ichigo replied and the boy nodded. The samurais were a bunch of enigmas, not much was known about them except that they didn't operate like a shinobi would. They would not hunt down their own men if one decided to defect from Tetsu no Kuni like a kage would unleash a full on man-hunt for any traitorous shinobi foolish enough abandon his/her village.

Ichigo pointed at the memorial stone with his index finger, "Paying your respects?" The boy's eyes became downcast at that as his eyes started watering. "There's no need to be sad."

"Why would I be sad for?!" The boy asked heatedly, tears flowing from his eyes and down his cheeks, "My parents died honourably protecting the village from that monstrous fox…!" His voice was breaking as he clenched his fists, and lowered his head. Ichigo watching him break down impassively, "I'm not even sad that they left me all alone…! How can I be?" His voice softened considerably at the last part. "How can I be?" He murmured.

"Man up." The boy's head rose at Ichigo's command as he looked at the orange haired man in wonder, hearing no remorse or pity in his voice for him. "Your parents… indeed they died with honour. You disgrace their sacrifice by wallowing in self-pity."

"What?" The whimpering boy took offense to that. "Then what am I meant to do?"

Ichigo's eyes turned to the boy, making him flinch at his hazel hollow-like orbs, "Endure." Ichigo told him and the boy blinked with a puzzled expression on his face. "You move forward without looking back and hold your head up with a sense of pride for surviving this long. If you look over your shoulder, at the memories of the past, you will only hinder your own development."

The boy's eyes grew wide as if he were staring at a wise Guru descended from the sky to shed his wisdom and experience to little children like him and even adults around the world as if to offer a piece of guidance and show them to a path-way capable of leading them to great things… while enduring the suffering of knowing that they would never see their love-ones again.

"But how'll I delete the pain of losing my family?" The boy questioned.

"You can't." Ichigo murmured truthfully, the boy's eyes filling up with sadness, "You can only endure it." At this, the boy's eyes started getting a hint of curiosity in them, "The pain never fades little one. It'll remain there to the day you die. But that's not necessarily a bad thing… as long as you can feel that pain… then you know you're human." Ichigo sent a look at the awestruck boy, "Understand?" The boy nodded his head simply. The way Ichigo made it sound was that he should keep the memories of those dear to him in his heart but not dwell on the past thus wallowing in self-pity, and that made him feel slightly at ease.

A hum of fascination came from the stoic one as he turned his head to glance at the bushes opposite to the one he and the kid were standing at, getting the brown haired boy's immediate attention, "What is it samurai-san? What's there?"

"I know you're there. Come on out." Ichigo breathed out commandingly, making confusion appear on the brown haired boy's face before an 'eep' was heard from the direction of the bushes.

The boy's eyebrow rose automatically, "Mizuki? Mizuki is that you?"

The leaves rustled and split apart to reveal a seemingly docile short white haired boy with a green bandana over his head wearing a short black-sleeved t shirt underneath a brown vest-jacket, black cargo trousers, and black sandals.

A slight scornful look was caught on his face by Ichigo for a spilt second before the boy's meekly one returned once again.

"Oh, hey, Iruka-san, me and the boys are all worried about you." Mizuki excused as he nervously treaded closer to Ichigo and the brown haired boy now known as Iruka but stopped himself half-way to them.

Iruka blinked dumbly, "You were?"

The boy nodded and offered his hand to Iruka with a smile on his face. "C'mon Iruka-san, everyone's waiting on us." The white haired boy's gaze shifted to Ichig0o as if hunting for some sort of permission from the big man, "Is that okay with you sir?"

"Orders." Ichigo uttered as if he were asking was that what the kid meant. "Is not something I give him." Mizuki nodded with a gulp, feeling ice cold from the orange haired man's way of speaking. He felt so empty to the white haired boy.

Iruka turned to Ichigo with a smile on his face. "Thanks for your wise words you told me. That really cheered me up sir." Iruka bowed his head, getting Ichigo to hum in acknowledgement. Iruka rose his head up and prepared to run off to his friend who grinned at him but halted his progress to look over his shoulder at Ichigo, "Oh yeah, before I go, may I have your name?"

"Ichigo… Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Thanks for everything Ichigo-sama!" Iruka grinned brightly, running up to Mizuki and grabbing his hand in a way only a brother could. The two boys chuckled cheerfully with each other while running through the woods, leaving Ichigo alone with his thoughts.

"_Interesting. Wouldn't you say, Ichigo? He's obviously a lost child, and is in need of guidance since his parents died." _Zangetsu explained. "_You could be the light at the end of the tunnel that's filled with darkness the boy's following." _Ichigo allowed a grunt to echo throughout the air, his mind coming to the conclusion that a few words of wisdom spewing from his mouth and into the kid's ear couldn't be the worst thing that happened.

Ichigo stared up at the sky, twirling his right leg half way around to amazingly vanish from thin air like he wasn't even there in the first place!

One had to love Shunpo (Flash-step)!

Thank you Yoruichi!

xXx

(Two Hours Earlier - Hiruzen's office)

_The door to the old man's office opened up while he was in the middle of painting a picture to pass the time. "You wanted to see me Hokage-sama?" The silver-haired youngster asked respectfully._

_His wild spiky hair was shot up, the laws of gravity simply didn't supply to it and his eyes, or one as the other one was covered by his leaf headband was onyx black. A mask concealed his mouth and nose. His attire consisted of a black shirt with a V-like design around the neck-area that was painted gold, black baggy trousers, a pouch attached to his trousers, and blue sandals on his feet._

_Hiruzen looked up at the talented A-classed ninja with a smile on his old wrinkly face, "Ah. It's good you could make it my boy, because I have an urgent mission that only someone of your calibre could accomplish."_

_"Like right now?" The silver-haired boy questioned, oddly relaxed despite getting a mission thrown at him. Hiruzen nodded his head and the kid rubbed the side of his neck. "I won't even have time to help that old lady cross the street."_

_Hiruzen gave him a bit of a wryly grin at that. The boy loved to make jokes, "You'll be accompanying a freelance samurai by the name of Ichigo Kurosaki as he undergoes his first bounty mission to Kaminari no Kuni. Ichigo's been noted to have an extreme amount of power. If all goes soundly on this mission a partnership could be sealed between him and us."_

_"Just how powerful are we talking about here Hokage-sama?" The teenager asked, his gaze had a tired look in it. It was one he carried all the time despite the situations he often found himself in as an elite ninja of Konoha, "Like Minato-sama-powerful." That would be insane in itself._

_"Perhaps more." The boy gulped at Hiruzen's guess, "Ichigo defeated the head of the Uchiha-clan just by raising his energy, according to Turtle who was assigned to watch over Ichigo with his wife and adopted daughter."_

_"Wow." The boy was shocked. He and Minato could've defeated Fugaku, just not the way Ichigo had done. This easily meant this Ichigo-guy was well above most, if not, all ninjas within the village of Konoha, "I hope he doesn't turn around and kill me on this mission then." The boy joked, his eye closing with a smile forming underneath his masked-features._

_Hiruzen smiled reassuringly at the boy, "I wouldn't worry about that my boy. Kushina-chan rather likes Ichigo-kun, and has even taken him in. It's why Ichigo requested this mission in the first place. So he could make some money for him, Kushina, and Naruto-kun."_

_The boy held his chin, a thoughtful look on his face, "So kaa-sama trusts Ichigo-san to that extent. Well if nothing else at least she has company now," The lord knows the boy was worried by the woman he had come to see as a respected mother after his father-figure passed on a year ago._

_"Indeed." Hiruzen said. "You can find Ichigo-kun waiting for you at the Southern entrance of Konoha. His target's Manabu Yamada, a fugitive from Iwagakure no Sato, he's wanted dead or alive for that very reason. You should proceed with caution."_

_The kid nodded his head at that. The people of Iwagakure no Sato were a proud bunch. There was no way that they weren't sending men after this traitor. They probably felt disgraced with themselves for just letting him roam free for as long as he had done._

_The Tsuchikage could even send out their big gun, their ace in the hole so to speak. The silver-haired teenager would pay not to have to face Iwa's best shinobi if he were being honest with himself._

_The man was scary powerful, and so smooth he basically lived in the shadows he was that good at killing anyone from them. And the stream he omitted was what made him his name. It enhanced his speed greatly, to the point he could easily outpace Minato, without him using the Hiraishin no Jutsu of course. Konoha considered themselves lucky the stealthy man with his legendary move of Fungōkyaku (Erupting Strong Foot) didn't anticipate in the Third Great Shinobi War, otherwise he would've killed them all by himself, Minato and all._

_The death stare he would give someone with his natural blood red eyes usually sent the message that one was screwed._

_He was that powerful._

_The last bit of info the kid had divulged of that man was that he was being shunned in his own village for that very reason since his fellow comrades believed he abandoned them in their time of need, but Kakashi felt there was a missing puzzle to this jigsaw of the story, for two reasons. One, the S-classed shinobi was still living contently among his comrades within Iwagakure no Sato, and two, his own father was wrongly accused of betraying his own village for the sake of his friends._

_Maybe the man left the war to tend to his sick aunt or something._

_It was something that always ate at the boy clad in black._

_Such powerful professional ninjas like the man didn't just stop and suddenly decide to hightail it out of a war that by all rights they could've won all on their own._

_An important issue made him do it and Konoha, Minato in particular, capitalized on it._

_And now Iwagakure no Sato despised Konoha and Minato's guts and wished they could saunter down to dance on their corpses after ruthlessly killing their soldiers and raping their women._

_The silver-haired youngster pivoted on his heels and left Hiruzen with a few last words, "…I hope Ichigo-san and I don't run into Han."_

_Because Sutorīmu no dansei (the man of stream) wasn't to be messed with!_

xXx

(Uchiha-compound – Residence of Mikoto and Fugaku)

"Okay, Itachi-kun. Are you ready for the academy?" Mikoto asked her son after he'd just finished eating his breakfast. It was the typical routine… almost… for the family of four living within the Uchiha-compound. Mikoto would wake up in her single bed next to her husband's one, tread over to the shower, wash herself before getting dressed in her usual attire, wake up Itachi, feed baby Sasuke, and make breakfast for all of them while Sasuke sat in his high chair.

"But of course mother." Itachi assured respectfully, causing the sound of a chalkboard to echo throughout the air as he slid from underneath the table and caused the wooden feet of the chair to grind across the tiled floor, "I must be off now, though. Shisui's expecting me to meet him at his home so we can go to the academy together."

"Oh. Well say hi to Kagami-san for me, would you dear?" Mikoto asked.

Itachi nodded, "That's of no concern at all." Itachi walked over to baby Sasuke who was smiling and doing the 'pick me up' motion with his hands to his big brother, making Itachi smile, "I'll see you when I get back little brother." Itachi told his little brother, walking to the front door and picking up his bag. He threw it over his shoulder, slipped on his sandals, and left to head to his friend's house.

Mikoto let out a sigh once she heard the door shut to her home while picking up the dishes she and Itachi had used to eat the breakfast of bacon and eggs that she'd prepared for the three of them. However, her husband hadn't even eaten breakfast. In fact he wasn't in bed this morning when she woke up.

She looked for him all over the house and found him outside throwing kunai knifes and shurikens remorselessly at the unfortunate training dummies in the backyard. She asked her husband did he feel hungry, and he told her he could not allow himself to be hungry until he gained the necessary strength to defeat that 'clown' Kurosaki.

Mikoto sauntered over to baby Sasuke and picked him up in her arms, the little baby grabbing at his beautiful mother's hair, getting her to giggle as he tried to put it into his mouth like it was a pacifier, but Mikoto lightly gripped his little hand, lowered it, strolled over to the side, grabbed his pacifier, and put it into his mouth so he could contently suck it.

"Your daddy's just so darn prideful, isn't he Sasuke-chan?" That was a rhetorical question since Mikoto obviously didn't expect Sasuke to answer that hence he didn't as he rested his head on his mother's shoulder, his mother gently stroking his black hair, "He just won't accept the fact that someone is of a higher power than all of us put together."

Mikoto blinked a couple of times at her own statement. Was Ichigo really that powerful? Or were the Uchiha-clan really that weak? After all Fugaku was the head of the Uchiha-clan – the strongest Uchiha to date within the village of Konohagakure no Sato as a whole. Anyone who could defeat him either meant one of two things. One: The Uchiha-clan as a whole ranged from average Chunin to lower level Genin at best. Or Two: The warrior that defeated the boss of the tribe had power of a godly level.

Mikoto's face scrunched up in thought. She didn't believe it was the former, not after witnessing her husband slammed to the floor and pinned there for all he was worth by that move Ichigo had informed her was called 'Soul Crush'. Mikoto herself may be a low A-classed level kuroichi but she was confident in all her years of being a kuroichi that she had never witnessed any average ninja of any rank capable of bringing someone to their knees with not even a mere flex of their muscles.

The very notion of that happening was godly; easily on the level of the legendary sannin and maybe more so if Mikoto's guess was as good as any.

And Mikoto didn't even know if Ichigo was using his full power in that 'fight' (Heh. More like a one-sided massacre), he'd with Fugaku. For all she knew, the man could've been using but a small portion of his power to easily force the boss of the tribe into submission. The man was a complete mystery, but Kushina seemed to like him to an extent.

Mikoto just hoped that Ichigo would treat her kindly, and hopefully not boss her around like some woman-beater. Sure the orange haired man appeared to be respectable and honest enough at first glance, but with the overwhelming energy and strange techniques he was packing one could never be too sure of him until getting to know him on a personal level.

"Maybe I'm over thinking this." Mikoto guessed. The ANBU were assigned to observe Ichigo, surely one of them must've reported to Hiruzen about Ichigo's abilities, unless the man decided to man-slaughter Kushina and the ANBU before fleeing the village of Konohagakure no Sato.

Mikoto shook her head of such thoughts. Ichigo seemed like a decent enough guy, one that did effortlessly crush her husband Fugaku, but a good guy nonetheless. The aftershock of Fugaku's defeat at the hands of Ichigo still hadn't completely left Mikoto. She was positive neither she nor Kushina could beat Fugaku as easily as Ichigo did. But then again the ladies just weren't that powerful or that formidable.

"Perhaps I should pay a visit to Ichigo-san and Kushina-chan, if Ichigo hasn't left the village yet." Mikoto said to herself. It wasn't like she liked to be suspicious of anyone, it was just that powerful warriors of any kind capable of crushing clan-heads don't just fall out of the sky, there was more to that Ichigo then meant the eye, and Mikoto desired to get to the bottom of it.

And who knew, perhaps her and Ichigo could be friends if he turned out to be the gentleman he was yesterday that just wanted to take care of Kushina or pull his weight.

"Okay. I'll go around Kushina-chan's and get to know Ichigo-san a bit more." Mikoto decided, looking at baby Sasuke, "Do you want to see Naruto-chan sweetie?" She cooed at Sasuke, earning small giggles from the small bundle of joy, "Yes you do. Okay, let's go tell that daddy of yours our plans for today!"

He wouldn't like that one bit. He already didn't like Kushina due to her outside status (of not being an Uchiha) and for the fact that she was married to the deceased Yondaime Hokage who also wasn't an Uchiha. Hell the bastard (In Fugaku's mind) didn't even come from a clan! How could he be selected Hokage ahead of Fugaku? For all intents and purposes the Chief of Police Force was stronger than that no-clan golden haired flashing Gonzales!

Shaking her head at her husband's haughtiness, Mikoto carried baby Sasuke out to the backyard to tell her husband she was going to see Kushina and Ichigo for a while.

(Backyard)

The fresh air of the outside world was polluted by fumes, and said smoke obscured the backyard that was quickly turning into a warzone between Fugaku and his own pride as the clan-leader struggled to tame it under his control. The casual 'damn-it' was heard through the smoke and if one listened closely enough one would hear the sizzling noises of flames burning the field as that was its only job.

"Damn it…" Fugaku cussed, wheezing intensely as many kunai knifes and shurikens were littered around the once beautiful training field. Some were even stuck in the mountain the ANBU stationed to watch Ichigo used as a hiding place to quietly observe the stoic one. But very few actually hit the bull-eye.

The man was too angry, angry with himself for being subdued by that top-tier samurai Ichigo Kurosaki.

"I've got to do better than that." Fugaku told himself, standing up, and gripping four more shurikens in his knuckles. He steadied his breathing, closed his eyes, kept his legs shut, and crossed his arms. He needed absolute concentration if he truly desired to perfect his shuriken-star hurling.

He would master it, make no mistake about it. After that, he was coming for Ichigo!

Fugaku believed, in his heart of hearts, if he returned for a rematch and put Ichigo in his place then the Hokage would have to see the prominence within the Uchiha-clan and rightly move them to a more fitting area of a clan deserving of their status. With the leader seeing such greatness in Konoha's most hated clan the other herds would soon follow his lead and no longer would the clan have to feel ashamed of stepping out of their own compound just to see scornful glares directed their way from Konoha's populace.

They would be treated like royally, exactly like they deserve in Fugaku's opinion.

This was why the Head of the Uchiha-clan was up so early, busting his rear-end off in a bid to defeat the_ mighty_ one. Fugaku couldn't see any other clan-leader even coming close to Ichigo, since he never even made so much of a tear on Ichigo's kimono. Fugaku even launched his strongest jutsu at Ichigo, and it still didn't even faze the man!

If being showered in a wave of fire didn't even scorn/badly maim someone then Fugaku didn't know what would.

"Keep my eyes on the prize. The defeat of Kurosaki is a must. I take him down and the clan will rise to greatness. The blind fools of the leaf are in for a real surprise once the 'bottom-of-the-food-chain clan' soars its way to the top, they can wait." Fugaku murmured followed by swift swishing noises indicating the spinning shuriken-stars soaring towards the bull-eye after Fugaku had released them from his grip.

Three hit the bull-eye and one pierced the end of it.

Fugaku sucked his teeth in exasperation. That was dead-on accurate. 'The winds must be playing up. It does feel a little breezy out here.' Fugaku mused to himself, ignoring the fact that it was in all actuality not that windy at all. He was merely looking for an excuse for his subpar hurtling of Kunai-knifes and shuriken-stars.

Fugaku was broken out of his musings by a loud gasp that came from the direction of the door, "Fugaku! How are you feeling after all of this?" Mikoto asked, hurriedly running over to her husband while making sure to avoid the dangerous weapons littering the burned grassy fields of the training ground, "You know you shouldn't be wasting your chakra like this!"

She didn't even get a glance of the eye from the so-called love of her life before she stepped in front of him and gently put her hand on his chin and attempted to fret over him but he grabbed her hand and dispatched it from his face as if it were a mere pesky mosquito instead of the smooth hand of his beautiful wife.

"I'm fine dear. You'll find your concern to be unnecessary," Fugaku said coldly, making Mikoto take two steps back from him.

"Oh. Well, okay, then." Mikoto responded, a bit miffed with her husband lack of wanting affection from her before putting her arm around baby Sasuke like her other one was. Sasuke just looked at his father and tried to reach out to him, but his father wasn't having any of that.

Once Sasuke grew old enough to walk on two feet then his father would show him all the attention he needed. But right now, the boy was only a liability, and a hindrance.

"Well I just wanted to tell you that I'm taking Sasuke-chan around to Kushina-chan's today," Mikoto informed him and for a second she could've sworn she seen rage in his eyes as he shifted his head to her and showed her that his eyebrows had lowered and his teeth were gritted before he turned his head from her again and regained his calm demeanour

"I highly recommend that you not see that woman or the clown that shall not be named." Fugaku breathed out. This sounded more like a command rather than a suggestion.

"Fugaku I'm only going over to Kus-."

"Uzumaki-san's…" Fugaku coughed as he 'corrected' her, and Mikoto narrowed her eyes at him.

"Kushina-chan." Mikoto held her stance firmly, not flinching as her husband looked at her from the corner of his eye. Mikoto took a deep breath and released it. This wasn't any time to be arguing with her husband, not when Sasuke was in her arms anyway, "Look. I won't be for gone. I just want to spend some time with Kushina-chan and get to know Ichigo-san a bit more as all."

"And this is the kind of simple you want to set for our son, huh, dear?" Fugaku asked, with disgust evident in his voice. "If your friendship with Uzumaki-san doesn't stop, Sasuke'll end up chums with the Uzumaki-baby, something I will not approve of."

"Hang on a minute!" Mikoto raised her voice slightly, not liking how her husband more or less made plans who Sasuke could be friends with and who he couldn't be friends with. Naruto Uzumaki was one of those who he couldn't be associated with in any way, shape, or form, "You can't decide Sasuke-chan's future without me Fugaku! And Naruto-chan's a loving boy, why can't Sasuke-chan be friends with him!"

Fugaku rotated his head in her direction, "Because _I, _his _father, _said so! I will not allow my son to converse with low-class shinobi such as the Uzumakis, dear. He comes from an elite clan."

A scowl set itself on Mikoto's face as she got into her husband's face, "Oh. You think just because you're his father that it's all fine and dandy to run his life! Don't I get a say in this? You know, his _mother, honey!"_

"No." Fugaku glared at her, enhancing said glare by activating his sharingan, "I am the alpha male of this family, dear. I have the sharingan, not you."

"Just because you have the sharingan doesn't mean you're stronger than me!" Mikoto stated righteously, cursing the fact that she was never able to activate her kekkai genkai for some inexplicable reason.

"The hell it does."

The eruption of baby Sasuke's bawling broke the two out of their heated argument as Mikoto turned baby Sasuke around and rocked him gently in her arms, "Now look what you've done? You've gone and upset him." The noise of Sasuke's crying grew more intense as Mikoto attempted to shush him, "There. There. Sasuke-chan, mama's here for you."

Eventually Sasuke's wailing quietened down to slight moans while his lips quivered and his tiny hands were balled into fists, "There we go. You just didn't want to see mama and papa fighting. Did you Sasuke-chan?" Mikoto murmured her question to the now soothed infant.

She took notice in the lack of concern for Sasuke from his very own father who, by now, had his arms crossed over his chest looking like a hard-man.

"Don't you want to tend to your son?" Mikoto asked him.

He didn't answer nor did he do anything other than let out a miffed groan that gave Mikoto all the answers she needed, "Sasuke has not come of age for me to show an interest in him. Once he starts walking on his own I shall put him on a strict training program. He has a _lot _of catching up to do with Itachi already leaps and bounds ahead of him."

Mikoto's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Fugaku was too much. Sasuke couldn't even talk properly, and already the man was making plans to turn him into a powerful ninja just like the most powerful of all Uchihas, who was once a living legend among the clan but now was considered a traitor.

Madara Uchiha!

"You say you don't want Sasuke-chan to have any friends, but yet you won't even spend any time with him." Mikoto sighed, turning around to saunter back inside to get ready for her visit to Kushina's place, "Make up your mind."

"I said I don't want Sasuke being acquainted with riffraff such as an Uzumaki. Don't put words in my mouth dear." Fugaku warned, receiving a lazy 'Uh ah' and a nod of the head from his departing wife in response, making a scowl appear on his face. He hated being ignored as he rightly believed he was king of this castle!

"I'll see you in a little while… after my visit to Kushina-chan's of course." Mikoto spoke and Fugaku's angry expression increased as he tried to rush after his wife to stop her from leaving.

"Oh no you don't, get bac-." Before he could finish his line, Mikoto seemed to turn into a hologram before his very eyes as the black haired woman ghosted from his sight in a show of speed, "Damn it." That woman was always fast. She trained her body intensely in order to make up for the loss of being unable to activate her kekkai genkai.

"Whatever." Fugaku eventually said after a few tense moments past. "I've got training to do. Let her enjoy her _play-date _with Kurosaki and Uzumaki-san. She'll learn soon enough that one can't depend on anyone who isn't a member of one's clan." And when that day came Fugaku would embrace the imprudent female in his arms, because she was his wife.

But for now, training was of the utmost importance.

If he wanted to subdue Ichigo, then he would need to be in tip-top shape.

And he'd lay-out the Strawberry one way or the other.

…Because his clan depended on it.


	7. Follow the Yellow Brick Road

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Follow the Yellow Brick Road**

XxX

(With Mikoto)

"Ooooh! That Fugaku! Does the clan really mean more to him then his own family?" Mikoto thunderously stormed into her house, making sure to keep her voice down so Sasuke didn't start crying again.

The black haired woman stomped off upstairs to grab Sasuke's diaper bag and her own handbag for her day-out at the red-haired beauty's home with her son while muttering to herself, "I know he's been feeling upset with the way the villagers look at us, but that's no excuse for cutting off ties with the nice ones like Kushina-chan. He might even be good friends with Ichigo if he drops his ego."

Mikoto shook her head at this. She loved her husband. She really did. It was just that his arrogance had to be toned down, if only slightly. So what if they were in the back section of Konoha. It didn't make a difference to Mikoto, because at the end of the day, they were still the Police Force! What other clans could wholeheartedly, from the bottom of their hearts, say they had a position of such significance.

Not many.

Sure the Uchiha-clan were viewed upon with scorn in the eyes of many, and blamed for what happened a year ago when the Kyuubi no Yoko infiltrated Konoha, but Mikoto believed if they just kept at it, putting their all for the sake of Konoha, then the villagers would soon see sense and realize that them as a whole didn't have anything to do with the invasion of the Kyuubi.

Mikoto could understand to a certain extent why the majority of Konoha's populace would accuse the Uchiha-clan in playing a part in the attack of the Kyuubi no Yoko since all Uchiha-clan members were well-known to stick together after the pinnacle of Uchiha, Madara Uchiha, abandoned his own tribe and village in favour of his own ambition.

In fact the only other Uchiha besides the heavenly one that wasn't stereotyped with the rest of them was already dead. Just thinking about the poor uncharacteristic Uchiha whom lost his life in the Third Great Shinobi War put a saddened expression on Mikoto's face as she made it to Sasuke's room and started gathering his things for their trip to Kushina's home after putting Sasuke down on his crib.

"I expected Obito to be around a lot longer than he did." Mikoto confessed to herself. The boy worked hard to get to where he was as well. Many of the Uchiha-clan members were in all actuality average/mediocre ninjas in despite of the fact that many of them believed that they were all as talented as Itachi and/or Shisui (or close enough.)

Obito was even worse than mediocre.

He graduated rock-bottom of his class in the academy, something that no Uchiha had ever been poor enough to accomplish, but Obito made it possible.

It was why the clan ostracized the outgoing boy, because they believed he brought shame upon them add to the fact that he was nothing like them.

In despite of this fact they still desired vengeance on Obito's teammate for what he held in his left eye-socket. To them, he stole it off of Obito, and was highly unfit to wield the Uchiha-clan's Kekkai Genkai.

Shaking her head at the bitter memories of the past, Mikoto continued to put extra diapers, a bottle and baby formula in case Sasuke got hungry, and his favourite blue blanket for when he got too tired and wanted to sleep into his travel-pack while trying to think positive.

"What done is done. There's no need to hold a grudge against Kakashi for something that wasn't his fault." Mikoto smiled at her son and tickled his tummy, making him laugh adorably, "I hope you don't turn out like the rest of them Sasuke-chan. Keep your childish tendencies for as long as possible, okay, sweetie?"

Sasuke just clapped his hands together and Mikoto took that as verification.

"Close enough."

xXx

(With Itachi)

It was the normal routine for the wonder child of the Uchiha-clan. He sauntered through the compound in the usual typical weather, never cloudy, but never too bright either. The girls would stop what they were doing and gawk at him with hearts in their eyes as if they were being graced to watch a god walk among them. The elderly folks would walk over to him and ruffle his hair, telling him how proud they were of him for displaying the Uchiha-clan in a positive light for being so talented.

He would greet his aunt who was normally outside sweeping her store before continuing on his way to his friend's house so the two gifted children of the tribe of matrix-wielding-eyes-users could venture to the academy together.

Ah… it was business as usual for Itachi Uchiha.

He went through all of that and now he found himself outside of his friend's house with his backpack over his left shoulder. He lifted his hand up, and knocked once on the door in a composed manner before banging the door again since no one was answering the door.

Eventually Itachi could see the golden doorknob rattling slightly as if a baby had gotten his hands on it and had shaken it rapidly before it turned and emitted a clicking sound. The door swung open to reveal an old man with unkempt grey hair falling over his own unique blue headband that had the symbol for the Uchiha-clan printed on it.

He had light wrinkly skin and the distinctive onyx eyes that most Uchiha had. His attire consisted of a dark red kimono top with the white and red fan of the Uchiha-clan on the back of it along with a pair of dark red kimono pants held up by a black obi tied around his waist and a brown walking stick in his hand.

"Ah. Kagami-sama, it's good to you. Is Shisui ready to head to the academy?" Itachi asked respectfully to the old man now identified as Kagami Uchiha.

Kagami Uchiha was one of the oldest Uchiha within the clan. He had been partnered up with the Shinobi no Yami, Danzo Shimura, himself and fought alongside him and the Nidaime Hokage in the Second Great Shinobi War. He poured his heart and soul in very battle he fought for his tribe but was also loyal to Tobirama and knew it was him whom put his clan in the back part of the village but stood by him wholeheartedly.

Now he just wished his fellow clansmen would do the same.

Kagami smiled at the boy, "It's good to see you sunny. Shisui should be down in a minute." Itachi nodded his head at that. Kagami liked the boy, and would often praise his maturity, especially after what Itachi witnessed during the Third Great Shinobi War only a couple of years ago. No kid so young should've to witness the horror Itachi saw through his young eyes that day.

"_AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH_!"

He could remember hearing Itachi's horrified scream seeing all those corpses littering the ground like toys thrown to the ground by a disorganized and untidy child. Usually traumatizing moments would effectively turn someone into a psycho serial killer willing to slaughter anyone deemed a bad person.

But instead Itachi did the opposite. He closed himself off from the world and locked his emotions away so he wouldn't have to deal with them, and that was why Kagami praised the boy's maturity for not succumbing to the clan's cursed hatred.

"Hey, dad, is that Itachi?" A young boy's voice was heard from behind the old man before a short boy roughly around Itachi's size walked into view with his short wild black spiky hair and light skin in full display.

He wore a purple long sleeved turtleneck shirt over a short-sleeved black t shirt, three-quarters black jeans, and black sandals on his feet.

The boy's eyes lit up once he seen his best friend Itachi Uchiha, "Hey, Itachi. Sup man? I'm all ready to go when you are pal."

"That's good to know, Shisui." Itachi smiled at his chum.

Shisui grinned and walked past his father before the old man's voice rang out in his ears, "Aren't you forgetting something son?" Shisui turned his head to look at his father and blinked twice at him. The old man chuckled earnestly, and reached his hand at the side to pull off a two-strap backpack off of the coat hanger, and dangled it in front of his son.

Shisui rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Sorry, dad, I forgot about that."

His dad threw him his backpack which he caught with his ease, "No worries, son. We all make mistakes as we are only human. It's how we take notice to these mistakes and rectify them that matter my boy." Shisui nodded but groaned nevertheless. His father always had to give him the speech every time he did something wrong.

Kagami chortled and looked at Itachi, "So how's that father and mother of yours doing sunny?"

"All is well Kagami-sama. Mother invited company around yesterday in the form of Kushina-san and her friend Ichigo-san whom recently arrived in the village I believe. Father does not seem to like Ichigo-san much. Oh, and mother says hello." Kagami hummed thoughtfully. That would mean this Ichigo-guy beat his father, the head of the Uchiha-clan no less.

The only people Fugaku ever disliked were those that had the Uchiha-clan's Kekkei Genkai but not Uchiha-blood in them and those that defeated him in battle. His sense of pride in his own abilities and duties to the clan were that great.

That was an impressive feat of that Ichigo-man. Perhaps he should see Fugaku later and get the details of that.

"Okay. Well you two better get going. You don't want to be late for the academy." Kagami recommended.

Shisui patted Itachi on the shoulder, "Hold on tight buddy, I'll zap us on outta here in a jiffy," Shisui grinned and Itachi just hummed in acceptance to his friend's words. Even for a small boy his age Shisui could already pull off one burst of the Shunshin no Jutsu (the Body Flicker Technique) a day, and could travel a considerable distance with that one burst of the well-known short speed jutsu.

He was going to go far, his father just knew it as he watched the boys disappear amidst a cloud of smoke with leaves surrounding it.

XxX

(Elsewhere)

XxX

"Oh wow, I can't wait to go to the academy, and see Naoko-chan! She may not like me but that won't stop me from trying to win her affections." An optimistic boy said holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand as he jogged off to the academy, "I'm uber determined for this to work."

It was all the boy had; his determination since he was orphaned at a very young age. The poor kid didn't even realize that made him a prime target for scientists to run experiments on him after kidnapping him since no one would miss the kid. He was under the radar. For all the instructors at the academy cared for, he could simply run away and never be thought of again.

The predator hiding in the shadows liked that a lot.

As soon as the boy walked past the alleyway, a pair of grey hands shot out of it and covered his mouth and nose. The boy hyperventilated with panic written all over his face as he tussled and turned in a bid to free himself, but his captor had a strong hold on him.

"Come now, child. You'll be fulfilling an even greater cause by being an lab-rat for my experiments," The boy froze at the sound of the smooth whisper.

'O-Orochimaru? One of the legendary sannin…? What does he want with me?' The terrified child thought before feeling his legs dragged across the dirt ground, 'N-No, p-please! P-please d-don't t-take m-me! I've g-got a d-date t-to tend to.' He promised himself that he would ask out Naoko one way or the other. It couldn't end like this for him.

But it seemingly did.

The no-named fodder boy felt a wood breaking blow delivered to the side of his neck. His world blacked out as the silent sound of his bouquet of flowers for his would-be girlfriend hitting the ground alerted him of his passing over to the unconscious side of the force (chakra).

"There we go. See how easy that is." Orochimaru smiled, throwing the sleeping boy in a trash-bag that he threw over his shoulder, "You should feel honoured. You're going to be of use for me child." Orochimaru sauntered off to his secret lair while licking his lips at the concept of inserting Hashirama's cells into the children he had captured earlier.

He would have enjoyed using stronger bodies for this procedure, but it was too risky. He could only get children and men that didn't have a family. Any known shinobi would alert the Hokage of something fishy with their disappearances. Hiruzen would classify them as nuke-nins (missing ninjas), and strengthen the security to avoid a repeat of a similar scenario happening. Orochimaru didn't need that.

But kids… Kids were free to do what they wanted. If one left the village it wasn't the Hokage's problem until a client requested of him to find said missing child. Orochimaru could easily slither around that problem by taking orphans such as this kid in the trash bag.

Such a shame though. Orochimaru would have to wait until he was ready to leave this village before getting his hands on the bodies of Kushina and Ichigo. Just the very idea of getting such interesting test subjects to experiment on was enough to get Orochimaru excited, but he refrained from doing so.

His bloodlust had been surging like mad lately, he needed to control it.

Even after coming back from his killing spree he still felt hungry for more blood.

He longed for it.

And he would have it.

But immortality came first.

xXx

(Southern Entrance of Konoha)

The red haired woman sat on the bench provided for tourists visiting the leaf waiting for her orange haired roommate whom assured her that he would meet her here in despite of the fact that he didn't know where it was, but then again he could always feel out for her reiatsu/chakra signature. At least that was what Ichigo had told the red haired beauty before he wondered off to find somewhere to meditate and to clear his thoughts.

Baby Naruto sat joyously on his mother's lap while Kushina dangled her legs off of the bench as if she were a little child on a grown up's chair, but her feet occasionally brushed the pavement, making her pout. Damn. Why did she have to grow up? Not mentally or in age. Grow up as in height. Couldn't Kami have stopped her growth before she got this tall? It just wasn't fair that she couldn't swing her legs off of the bench freely; it was something she adored doing since it was free, simple and most of all fun to do.

…Dattebane!

A sigh escaped Kushina's lips. That was just one of the many downfalls of being a grown-up, but there were a lot of positives of being an adult too. Like for instance if she so wanted to she could buy herself some alcohol. She wouldn't because she wasn't a drinker or a smoker, but if she was, no one would stop her from getting wasted and babbling nonsense that would drive someone totally insane.

"C'mon Ichigo-kun, don't keep a girl waiting." Kushina sighed, looking at the file containing the man whom Ichigo was tasked with the responsibility of apprehending or outright extinguishing from existence depending on the circumstances, "How long does it take for a big muscle-man to decide whether to capture or to kill someone already?" Kushina asked herself.

Not long after thinking that sentence over did Kushina frown. She couldn't truthfully say she had massacred anyone in her somewhat short career of a shinobi. Maybe it was because the Hokage was there for her, since she was a member of a prestigious clan with a strong Kekkai Genkai. He didn't want to rush her into anything and thus ruin her potential.

The Uzumakis' potential to become a fearsome clan could be divulged to the fact that they had long life-spans, most didn't start losing their good looks at age ninety at the minimum. That stretched out their peaks, allowing them to grow stronger even as generations past them by, add to the fact they were masters of sealing. Rumours had it that it was mentioned an Uzumaki with a wide range of fuinjutsu could trap a living shinobi within a scroll!

Now that was frightening.

It was no wonder why Konoha brought Kushina over to Konoha in order for her to be a powerful shinobi all in the name of the Will of Fire! It was why she was nurtured and had her innocence protected as Hiruzen felt that was the best course of action for the red haired woman of the Uzumaki-clan.

Maybe Kushina would still be in the shinobi forces if Minato hadn't did what he did.

Naruto needed a parent.

She couldn't afford to die no matter what…

Kushina jumped a bit as well as the other passing civilians and shinobi as a swish noise echoed throughout the area before the green-wearing-kimono samurai stood tall in his emotionless glory.

"Hey," Ichigo said.

"Ichigo-kun!" Kushina said brightly, jumping up with Naruto in her arms, the baby giggling at the sudden jump that felt like a fun ride to him. With her arms wrapped around her son, the red haired woman pouted at the orange haired samurai, "What took you so long anyway?"

"I got lost on the road to life." Ichigo excused and Kushina's pout increased.

"That's almost as cheesy as the excuses Scarecrow-chan makes up." Kushina hollered and Ichigo raised an eyebrow. Who was that guy?

Ichigo would've asked her who that was if a leisured voice hadn't spoken up, "Ah. You must be the one Hokage-sama told me about. You would be Ichigo Kurosaki, correct?" Ichigo gazed at the newcomer. He looked young, definitely around his teenage-years and he probably came up to Ichigo's elbow at best. He wore a navy blue mask over the bottom-half of his face and his leaf headband was styled to cover his left eye.

What was he hiding under there?

He wore a black t shirt with golden strips over the sleeves and a golden V-shaped symbol around the neck area making his shirt look like a turtleneck one instead. Black baggy trousers, blue sandals, and a pouch on the back of his trousers completed his appearance. What really caught Ichigo's attention was the boy's hair. It was sliver, like Toshiro's, and slicked to the side. If anything he could've made an excellent scarecrow.

"Kakashi." Ichigo guessed before he found Naruto shoved into his arms as a bright smile was engraved onto Kushina's face as she spun around and embraced the boy now known as Kakashi in a show of motherly-love.

"Whatcha been up to, Scarecrow-chan? Why weren't you here earlier?" Kushina questioned, ruffling Kakashi's hair, making him chuckle sheepishly. Back in the day, Minato's old student would always scowl whenever Kushina handed out her motherly love to him and his teammates, but a certain event showed Kakashi that he needed to take things easy and chill out a bit to which he did.

"Well you see kaa-sama this old lady needed some help with her shopping bags, and me being the helping shinobi I am decided to lend a hand to her, not realizing at the time that she lived on a huge mountain top," Kakashi closed his right eye and seemingly let a smile grace his masked features as his expression remained content.

Kushina let go of Kakashi to show the boy her twitching eyebrow as she pointed at Ichigo who held Naruto in his arms, "That's even cheesier than Ichigo-kun's excuse!" Kushina ranted.

Kakashi tapped his chin, "What was Ichigo's reason for turning up late?"

Kushina pouted and crossed her arms over her chest before turning away from the boys, "He got lost on the road to life!"

'Hmm. That's a good one. I might have to use that one myself.' Kakashi thought as he walked over to Ichigo and attempted to pat him on his shoulder. He had to jump to do so, "Ichigo I think you and I are going to get along just fine." Ichigo nodded while Kushina growled cutely at the lazy lads.

"Ah. Goo, goo, gaa, gaa," Naruto chortled and Kakashi eye-smiled at him.

"Hey there little guy, how's it going?" Kakashi asked, giving Naruto his index finger as if offering to shake the little infant's hand with it. Naruto took it and shook it while laughing adorably as Kakashi thought how much he looked like his father Minato Namikaze.

Kushina placed her hands on Kakashi's shoulders and decided to properly introduce the two, "Ichigo-kun, this is Minato-san's former student Kakashi Hatake. He's the elite shinobi I was telling you about earlier, he's really good. Not only did he graduate the ninja academy at age five he also was promoted to the rank of chunin at age six before advancing to the rank of Jonin at age twelve! He's even gone as far as to create his own S-rank technique known as the Raikiri!" Kushina bragged about her surrogate son's achievements.

She was so proud of him.

"Oh I'm not that good." Kakashi brushed off Kushina's praise lackadaisically, making Kushina roll her eyes as a small smile spread itself across her features.

"You're just being modest as all." Kushina teased. "It beats how you were before the Third Great Shinobi War Scarecrow-chan. If haughtiness was a power, then yours could've destroyed the village a thousand times over." Kushina joked and Kakashi chuckled a little bit at the crude description of his younger-self. He really thought he was hot-stuff back then. It took the death of his dear friend after he basically drilled words into his stubborn head to realize he wasn't.

"Anyway," Jokes aside, Kakashi was all about business despite his languid demeanour, "I have to escort you to Kaminari no Kuni in order for you to track down an A-classed nuke-nin. Think of it as reassurance so Hokage-sama can rest himself knowing a strong samurai such as yourself won't suddenly remember who you are and run off to your boss to inform him of what you went through during your stay here in Konoha." Kakashi confessed with an eye-smile.

It was better to be straight up with him.

Ichigo grunted. "The old man must've briefed you about me. Am I right?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that Ichigo-san. It's strictly shinobi confidentiality," Kakashi joked and Kushina giggled before she remembered something.

"Oh yeah!" Kushina grabbed the A-classed nuke-nin's file off of the bench and gave it to Kakashi to look over, "That's who Ichigo needs to find. Can you help him hunt him down Scarecrow-chan?"

Kakashi breezed through the file in no real hurry, which was strange since he read it quickly, "Hmm. Target is Manabu Yamada whom is wanted dead or alive. Yup, I can assist Ichigo-san in finding him, but he'll have to do the work in bringing him down himself." Kushina didn't miss the glint in Kakashi's right eye and narrowed her own eyes at him, "You can do that can't you Ichigo-san?"

Ichigo wasn't even going to dignify that with a response as he handed Naruto back to Kushina. Naruto wailed and tried to jump back into Ichigo's arms, making Kushina coo, "Awww, Naruto-chan wants to go with you two." The red haired woman started soothing her son, "When you're a little older Naruto-chan. You can go on all the simple missions you want to."

Kakashi felt a bead of sweat roll off of the back of his head at that. Overprotective mother mode was kicking in there. "Okay, Ichigo, shall we be off?" A nod of the head was all Kakashi needed as he inexplicably sighed in relief, 'Good. A few days away from Gai and his 'youthfulness' will do me the world of good. I can catch up on my icha icha paradise.'

Jiraiya-sama was an amazing author, truly inspirational!

Kushina could see Kakashi's hand reaching into his pouch as his hand involuntarily lifted the cover up to reveal something orange in his pouch that made Kushina grit her teeth and growl softly.

As Kakashi and Ichigo took their first steps toward the entrance of Konoha, Kakashi was stopped by a smooth hand that felt like a tiger claw had grabbed his shoulder. He slowly turned his head over his shoulder and paled at the glaring Kushina whom eyes had shifted to yellow while her hair started waving upward to resemble that of nine fox-like tails.

"Kakashi…" Kushina growled out menacingly, making Kakashi gulp, "What did I tell you about reading those dirty books?!"

Kakashi waved his hands around in a placating manner, "Maa. It's nothing really, kaa-sama. It's just something that helps me sleep at night." That was obviously the wrong answer as Kushina's furious expression increased and a powerful swirling blue aura shrouded her body, earning a whine from Kakashi while the other bypassing shinobi cowered in fear at the Akai-Chishio-no-Habanero's temper.

Ichigo felt like rubbing his temples in exasperation. But he resisted easily enough. Women and their temper tantrums, he had come to know them all too well. Two of his best girl-chums (Tatsuki and Rukia) both had tempers and they were just annoying as all hell when they were angry.

"What kind of example are you setting to Naruto-chan reading filthy books lik-." The demonic-looking Kushina's rant was cut off as Ichigo stood in front of Kakashi and wrapped his arms around Kushina's head, making sure to keep a few inches away from her as to not suffocate Naruto who was in between them, "I-Ichigo-kun!" Kushina stuttered but felt oddly relaxed as Ichigo massaged her hair and whispered soothing noises to her.

He soothed his baby sisters Karin and Yuzu before he came to this world so whose was to say he couldn't calm Kushina down.

"Easy, Kushina, Kakashi's considered a full grown man more or less since he's allowed to go off and fight in a war. You just have to accept the choices he makes in his life."

Kushina tried to protest, but the soft feel of Ichigo's huge hands running up and down hair beautiful hair was simply too much to resist. She could smell her own soap mixed in with Ichigo's scent and it was almost enough to make her moan as her temper died down and appearance went back to normal.

'Damn it! Why can't I ever get mad at him and beat him! It's not fair! Why does Ichigo-kun have to be so calm for?' Kushina questioned herself mentally as she was close to nuzzling into Ichigo's chest but realized Naruto was in her arms and pulled back a bit embarrassed while everyone around them simply stared on in awe at the magician that was Ichigo Kurosaki.

He just soothed the Akai-Chishio-no-Habanero down with ease!

If that wasn't magical then they didn't know what was!

Ichigo was badass if one asked Kushina!

"Fine!" Kushina pouted as she pivoted on her heels, "You can have your stupid books then Scarecrow-chan!"

Kakashi held his hands together as if he were about to do a pray, "If there's a god, you must be it Ichigo." That was Kakashi's way of saying thank you very much.

Kushina sulked sweetly while Ichigo merely nodded his head and patted Kushina's shoulder, "I'll be back soon." Kushina nodded as she watched the boys saunter on out of the leaf to begin their voyage to Kaminari no Kuni.

With nothing better to do, Kushina started walking back home with Naruto in her arms.

The red haired woman traversed through the market district of Konoha before walking through an alleyway, all the while thinking how boring it would be without her roommate to attempt to miff in some way, shape, or form with her silly jokes.

"I guess it's just me and you again Naruto-chan." Kushina stated aloud as she brought Naruto to her shoulder and rubbed his little back. "Are you going to miss Ichigo-kun too?" Naruto just looked around the isolated area they were in curiosity, "I am missing him already. I can't make him my ramen now!" Kushina cried comically.

Tripe aside: Kushina became intrigued when she picked up on the subtle noises of someone breathing rather hard. "What's that? It sounds like someone's running a marathon." Kushina's eyes lit up in excitement as she only knew one person that would be wheezing intensely after jogging around the village a hundred times over, "Ohhhh! Maybe it's Gai!" Kushina followed the sound and grew more curious as it got rather loud fairly quickly.

"Hmm. Gai's usually faster than this. His speed's already way above mine and Mikoto's due to his crazy training regime." Kushina shivered. Maito Gai really went all-out when it came to training. He pushed his body to its limits and beyond. How was he still among the living let alone still a shinobi with him doing dangerous bones-crumping-training day by day Kushina would never know.

Kushina turned the corner with a bright grin on her beautiful face only to wish she hadn't as her smile was replaced with a look of fear followed by an immediate gasp.

This feeling of desire to kill and destroy everyone and everything in his line of vision was felt by Kushina as the red haired beauty started hyperventilating at the sight of the sickly purple aura covering the devilish man as he looked like a fat man who had eaten too much in an all-you-can-restaurant as he couldn't control his own breathing!

Kushina knew why this man before her was legendary; he struck fear in her heart as she fell on her backside and involuntarily clattered her teeth together, and held her son closer to her, praying that he wouldn't cry so the golden-eyed-killing-intent-releasing-man before her wouldn't see her.

'I'm scared.' Kushina thought as she hugged Naruto close to her, 'Is… is this the power of a sannin?'

"I've… got to control myself." Orochimaru said, his bloodlust flaring like crazy while his long tongue slithered out of his mouth and wetted his dry lips, "I've only just come back from my killing spree." Kushina gulped at that. Did he mean humans or animals. Judging by this malevolence Kushina wouldn't put it past him to murder humans, as much as that terrified her.

Things were already looking bad for Kushina and unfortunately for the red haired beauty the sense of danger was amped up by ten as Naruto chose the worst possible time to start bawling his eyes out to signal that he needed something or he himself (unlikely) felt Orochimaru's malice on his shoulders as if it were reiatsu.

"Oh no, not now, Naruto-chan! Please! Please! Please don't cry!" Kushina begged him, trying desperately to hush baby Naruto. She could only freeze as Orochimaru's ears wriggled as if he had just received a tingling sensation on them before he brought his tongue slightly out of his mouth to lick the top part of his lips.

Orochimaru sharply looked at her, earning frightened swallows from the woman.

Kushina's heart was in her mouth as Orochimaru started stalking his prey, her; all the while the devilish snake was giggling insanely, and grinding his 'artificial' hands (since snakes don't have hands) together. This scenario was like a woman or a man on the verge of being devoured by a monstrous demon!

Once Orochimaru made his way to the scared Uzumaki his lunatic-demeanour faded away, and was replaced by a cool and collected one that sent chills up Kushina's spine how quickly the snake-man could switch his psycho side on and off like flipping on a light within an apartment.

"Kushina-dear, you don't look so well. Perhaps I could offer my assistance to you."

Why did she feel like she wasn't getting the choice to choose any other option other then yes?


	8. You Are Already Dead

**Disclaimer: Bleach or Naruto. I got the new GTA game and I gotta say, Trevor Phillips is badass! The guy's a fucking lunatic! I love him (no homo). I clocked the game though. It was actually pretty short to tell you the truth. I got Fifa 14. Disappointed that shit Bale-bitch got to be on the front cover with Leo Messi (The best player as of yet). Fucking overrated light furred monkey bastard. Yes, I know the irony of that statement.**

**Though, to be fair, Bale-bitch isn't that bad. He's actually pretty good. It's just that he isn't as _good _as most blind football fans make him out to be. **

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**You Are Already Dead**

Ah. Nice relaxing walk was just what the doctor ordered for one Kakashi Hatake as he and the stoic one sauntered on the dirt path-way, a few minutes away from Konoha. In his younger days, Kakashi would've been all serious, and demanded that Ichigo step up the pace so they could get to their prior destination as soon as possible.

But after watching his love ones perish one by one, the slicked-haired teenager came to the conclusion that having a no-nonsense attitude wouldn't keep him around for any longer than his number was due by the big guy up in the sky who called the numbers of the only woman he had ever loved and the closest thing he'd had to a brother.

Everyone had to die at some time in their lives, right?

So why not live a little? Enjoy life while you could.

One may as well take the time to stop, and smell the roses so to speak. And that was exactly what he was doing now, taking out his Icha-Icha paradise book from his pouch, (he was in Ichigo's debt for getting kaa-sama off of his back there), and contently reading it while leisurely leading Ichigo to the docks so they could set sail to Kaminari no Kuni.

Life was good.

Meanwhile Ichigo was having a difficult time trying not to be too curious of this new environment he found himself in. Fresh grass, tall trees, dirt roads, no pavements, bushes, and no cars in a hundred mile radius. Was this what all of the ninja-world was like? No moving vehicles or any kind of electronic devices barring a few?

Ichigo didn't even assume that this world had speed boats. He was sure this world's boats were the old-fashioned manual powered boats operated by man instead of machine.

He could get use to that since there was no need for him to use a car or a boat. With the ability to walk on the very air itself, and flash from point B to point A within an instant Ichigo could get anywhere he wanted to if he knew where he was going of course.

It was just weird for him to know that he would never again see the things he had become accustomed to seeing on his daily walks to school and whatnot. Devices such as cars were but a mere thing of the past to the pinnacle of all hybrids of shinigami and human.

He would get used to this soon though.

He had too.

Kakashi closed his book momentarily, "Alright then." The masked boy breathed out in a relaxed manner, really enjoying the leisured sensation of silence, "I should probably warn you that we may encounter a little trouble along the way, I hope you're prepared to face that Ichigo-san."

Ichigo rotated his head in his direction to look at him once before turning his head back in front of him. He gave the star-ninja one nod of his head in affirmation.

"Good." Kakashi said, thankful that Ichigo wasn't the talkative type, "The most likely trouble we'll face on our voyage to Kaminari no Kuni will come in the form of Iwagakure no Sato ninja and some bandits who think it's a good idea to try their luck on experienced warriors such as ourselves."

"Why's that?" Ichigo questioned.

"You mean why the bandits want to kill us and take our money, or why Iwagakure would send their troops to get their justice and give punishment to the Leaf Village?" Kakashi asked, feigning surprise on his face and Ichigo simply deadpanned a look at him that made Kakashi chuckle a little uneasily. Sometimes it was the small things one just had to enjoy.

"Okay," Kakashi began, "Did kaa-sama tell you how Minato-sama defeated several of Iwagakure no Sato's shinobi using the Hiraishin no Jutsu?"

"She only informed me that he played an important role in Konoha's victory," Ichigo told him, "Now I know."

Kakashi nodded his head languidly, "That's why Iwa ninja will more than likely be targeting us on this voyage." Kakashi then shook his head, "The goal of revenge can lead many ninjas astray," Kakashi concluded in a grim tone of voice.

The half-breed grunted in agreement with the silver-haired Jonin-boy, while still continuing to walk towards the ocean to jump on boat and travel to Kaminari no Kuni. That was obvious, since the shinigami/hollow hybrid didn't exactly expect them to be hopping into a rocket. So by voyage Kakashi had to have meant boat travel.

As the two trotted on, the minutes away from Konoha soon became hours, and the further the distance they travelled from Konohagakure no Sato, the more reiatsu/chakra signatures did Ichigo pick up around the immediate area. He casted a look at Kakashi from the corner of his eye to see that the Cyclops' eye hadn't left the mature contents of his little orange book while he hummed a tune as if he hadn't had a care in the world.

But his droning seemed rather loud and forceful.

Was he trying to signal Ichigo, or something?

Ugh.

They would have to work on that when they were out of sight from their guests.

xXx

"You think they see us?" A gruffly quietened voice was heard from the direction of the bushes as ten pair of eyes was seen in the shadows that were surrounded by trees.

"Please… as if Leaf ninja could pinpoint our location." Another voice spoke up, sounding feminine. "We've been perfecting our stealth to near perfection since the Third Great Shinobi War when that scumbag of a man defeated our troops… despite how handsome he was."

"I hear that guy had a nice wife." A voice squeaked, "I think it was an Uzumaki… so the rumours hear anyway. What I wouldn't give to have an Uzumaki-lady, you know what I'm saying?"

"Hmm. I believe lord Onoki-sama would recommend us to steal the Uzumaki from Konoha and bring her to him." Another voice said. This one was calm and deep, and had an feel of intelligence in it. The Uzumakis had the potential to rise to prominence especially with their long life forces, giving their village the name Chōju no Sato (The Village of Longevity). Naturally, members of said clan would peak so much later in life than the average shinobi, thus their chakra levels and knowledge of all things ninja-related could've grown at a resounding rate, making them one of the, (if not _thee), _most powerful clans to ever exist in the ninja-world.

It was of no wonder why other hidden villages teamed up, and launched a full-on onslaught on Uzu no Kuni (The Land of Eddies), and all it's villages in its entirety to take it out and thus the ninjas avoided living in fear of the celestial beings sauntering around the Uzu no Kuni with their distinctive red hairs.

"We were one of the villages that basically gangbanged Uzushiogakure (The Hidden Eddy Village) during the Shinobi War Eras… the fools. Where's their 'good relationship' with Konoha now, eh?! I just wish every last freaking Uzumaki were killed that day!" This next person was brash and crude in a way, "Let's jump on down there and kill them all already!"

"Easy, easy, brother," A relaxed-voice sounded out in the clearing that still had a hint of malice in it. "We need to carefully run this through; you know what I'm saying? Come up with a plan to capture them, torture them until they tell us where we can find the Uzumaki directly in those walls of Konoha, capture the bitch, and bring her back to Iwagakure…"

"For even the strongest villages can get stronger." The calm voice spoke up, speaking directly to his easy-going comrade. "Good thinking Shu."

The laid-back yet somewhat devilish Shu merely hummed at his brother's compliment at him.

The rude boy of the ten growled in exasperation, "Fine! What'll be the plan to capture those bitches then?"

"Hey, guys, I got one. It's bound to succeed all day, every day of the week." The figure squeaked.

The rude boy groaned, "It better not be another one of your dumb candy-shop plans."

"Now, now, Sanjirou-kun, don't be so quick to shot down Benjirou-kun's idea. His plans have never failed us before. " The feminine voice identified the brash one as Sanjirou and the high-pitched one as Benjirou.

Sanjirou rolled his eyes, "Duh. What do you expect Kasuga-jiji? For us to just roll over, and fail ever single silent kill mission the old man back in the village gives us? Fuck no! We're the Kage no chinmoku no kyōdai (the silent brothers of the shadows), we're Iwagakure no Sato's best, when it comes to dealing with fools from the shadows!"

"Keep your arrogance down brother." A quiet voice which held wisdom in it spoke up, knowing that _Han_ was Iwagakure's number one hitman. The man didn't do these simple stakeout missions that they were on. The S-class level ninja only found himself doing the most extreme and brutal missions that the village were tasked with by its clients.

"Fuck off, Atsushi!" Sanjirou raised his voice and almost alerted Kakashi and Ichigo who were still walking at a reserved pace with no real rush or urgency in their movements or body language.

"That's enough you two," The smart one of the group commanded calmly, the others appeared to listen to him since he was the oldest of the ten brothers hailing from Iwagakure no Sato, "Let's hear out Benjirou's plan and go from there brother." Sanjirou was sulking while Benjirou was beaming with delight. "Is that okay with the rest of you, Hachirou, Jiro, Ryo, Takashi?"

"Couldn't have spoken it any better myself, Kenji-niisama." Hachirou chirped to the eldest brother among the group, "Let's gets this show on the road then." The brothers all nodded their heads as the second oldest one in Takashi momentarily disbanded from the group to keep track of Ichigo and Kakashi while his brothers formatted a plan to capture the duo so they could kidnap the Uzumaki and thus enhance the power of their own village with the babies that were bound to come from the Uzumaki's womb.

Iwagakure no Sato's prominence would further increase no matter what.

xXx

(With Kakashi and Ichigo)

xXx

The leaves suddenly rustled with Kakashi's eye still glued to the naked pictures and lewd writing of Jiraiya-sama's masterpiece, Icha Icha paradise, before a voice with authority told him and Ichigo to hand over their valuables to him, "Give me your money, now!"

"Ah, a good old bandit," Kakashi identified the fodder as a bandit, turning a page of his book casually, "Do you want to deal with him or should I Ichigo-san?"

The man didn't take kindly to Kakashi's words at being treated as if he was some nuisance, "Don't get cocky with me boy, unless you want me to stab you!" He jerked his butter knife forward for emphasis.

"Ouch. That's a sharp kitchen knife you got there sir. I guess I should just do as you say and hand over all of my money to you." Kakashi mocked him patronizingly.

The lowlife criminal fumed at the masked prodigy, "I will kill you if you don't stop your cheekiness and give me YOUR DAMN MONEY!" He spat as he pointed his knife at the frozen faced orange haired warrior, "You too Ginger!" Seriously, what kind of person had ginger hair that bright? A freak – the bandit would tell anyone that much.

"Impossible." The carrot-top stoic man told the bandit man honestly, making him raise an eyebrow as a look of annoyance was washed over his face.

"Why not?"

"…Because you're already dead."

"…"

"…"

Even Kakashi stared at Ichigo with interest after he made that statement. The masked boy was sure the bandit was alive and very much (not) well at the moment. The bandit man would've back-chatted if he hadn't lost track of Ichigo, seeing only a mist of dust from where Ichigo once stood at. His eyes went wide as he saw a mazy blur dash past him. He never even got a look at the empyreal being before a line appeared down his body, cutting the fodder in two and effectively ending his life in a shower of blood.

"Wow." A shell-shocked Kakashi breathed out. He didn't even see Ichigo move much less take his huge broadsword off of his back and separate the man in two as if Ichigo was doing something as simple as cutting a cake into two pieces, "When you said he was already dead, you weren't joking."

Not even an ounce of blood was on Ichigo's clothes or on Ichigo's massive sword as the orange haired man shook his sword after blurring five feet away from the man so the blood wouldn't get on his clothes.

Ichigo gave the star ninja a nod of his head. He never joked around when it came to ending someone's life.

"He'd his chance." Ichigo confessed insensitively.

"Chance?" Kakashi repeated, not understanding what Ichigo had meant by that.

"Yes." Ichigo did not mince his words, "He blew his chance the moment he confronted us."

For a boy who had learned the meaning of 'us' as in teamwork from his dear deceased friend Obito, Kakashi's respect for Ichigo grew knowing the heavenly one wouldn't have abandoned him, "I see you don't abandon your comrades, Ichigo-san." Kakashi chirped with an eye-smile at Ichigo.

Ichigo started sauntering forward again with Kakashi following beside him. If one could get passed the deadly weapons on their bodies, one would think that the two were a father and a son taking a fatherly/son bonding trip outside of their village.

"I protect those associated with me to the very end of time." Ichigo murmured informatively to the masked-boy, earning an eye-smile from him.

"It's words like that which make me believe kaa-sama's safe in your capable hands." Kakashi confessed, "Please don't hurt her, I wouldn't know what I would do if you did. Just from the briefing Hokage-sama gave me of you and that little confrontation with that bandit guy, I know you're far stronger and faster than I am Ichigo-san."

Ichigo turned his eyes to the boy to see Kakashi giving him a look of pure resolution. It told Ichigo everything he needed to know. Kakashi would throw everything he had at him and then some if it meant he could protect the woman he had personally come to see as a respected mother.

And that had to be respected.

"Rest easy, little one. While I'm around, nothing will happen to Kushina or Naruto." Ichigo told the boy in a bid to ease his fears, making him visibly sigh in relief.

"I'm glad Ichigo-san." Kakashi eye-smiled at him, "I feel it's my duty somewhat to Minato-sama to assist his son on his path to becoming a ninja, if Naruto chooses to become one that is. However, I feel I may not be the right sensei to teach Naruto the things he'd need to become a respectable ninja of Konohagakure no Sato, because Minato-sama wasn't compatible with me. He did teach me a few things, but for the most part I taught myself the abilities and skills I possess of today."

Ichigo grunted in agreement with Kakashi. That made sense to him. Kisuke had barely taught him anything to do with using his Zanpakuto during the time when one of his dearest friends got recalled (kidnapped) back to the Soul Society to be given the execution penalty for surrendering her powers away to Ichigo so he could rescue his family.

No one ever said the Soul Society was fair now, especially with the mastermind Sosuke Aizen behind the scenes pulling the strings and whatnot.

But Ichigo will digress.

Kakashi took his eye off of his orange book and glanced around the forest nonchalantly, "So, it seems like our 'friends' have decided to stop following us," Kakashi murmured in case the ten shinobi from before happened to be near them in any way, shape, or form.

The stiff shake of the head from Ichigo told the star boy otherwise, "No. I sense them up ahead. Keep your guard up. Follow my lead." Ichigo whispered to Kakashi authoritatively, receiving a nod of submission from Kakashi. Ichigo was older than him and by the looks of it far more powerful than Kakashi.

It was only common sense that Kakashi would obey Ichigo's orders. Besides, he was only here as an observer, nothing more, nothing less.

After a few more minutes of walking, the two stumbled across a small tea house located on the side of the dirt road obviously meant for passing civilians and ninjas to stop and rest before continuing on their journey. This one was painted bright pink though and by the looks of it someone did a lazy job at painting the building.

Kakashi's eye narrowed at the house as his eye senses zoned in on the house and its paint job. He could see how sloppy done it was, as if a couple of children had gotten their hands, dipped them in pink hued paint, and smudged them all over the house without any thought or care put into making the building look neat and presentable for customers.

"Interesting." Kakashi said languidly, "Don't suppose you want to rest for a bit Ichigo-san."

Ichigo didn't get the time to form an answer to Kakashi before a beautiful woman of average height came bouncing out of the house with a cheerful smile on her face. Her coffee brown hair was curly, and fell to her shoulders, her bright blue eyes depicted her chirpiness to both Kakashi and Ichigo. Her clothes were quite revealing as she wore a bright pink leopard body suit with no sleeves, showing off her smooth arms and legs. A pair of pink sandals, arm warmers, and wristbands completed her appearance.

The breast development wasn't looking too bad either. In all actuality her boobs were sized FF-cup and her hips were perfectly curved to finish off her stunning elegance.

"Hello there!" The busty woman squealed at the two, "Come in! Come in! Won't you two fine gentlemen come in and rest your handsome selves!"

"Oh." Kakashi said, wanting to ogle the gorgeous woman in front of him. She was just like the ones Jiraiya-sama draw in his books. It was every man's dream to be with a lady of such elegance such as her, but the prevented laid back teenager inexplicably resisted, "You'd have to consult my colleague here for that madam."

Woman's eyes focused on the tall figure of Ichigo, mentally licking her lips at how handsome he was. Ichigo didn't look like Kakashi but the way the teenager made it sound, (to her at least), was that Ichigo was related to him in some way, "Oh. You're both on a fatherly/son bonding trip, how sweet." Perhaps Kakashi got his looks from his mother. That was what the woman concluded it as.

"You could say that." Kakashi replied with a sheepish eye-smile at the woman, causing her to giggle.

Ichigo merely regarded the jab with indifference and the woman stopped gigging as an awkward silence befallen the three of them. Well Ichigo seemed like the wet blanket if there ever was one.

"So…" The woman started, nervously swaying in position in a bid to break the silence between them, "Would you gentlemen like to come inside for tea. It's on special! Two for one!"

"How convenient," Ichigo commented, causing the woman to recoil as she started to sweat, "Affirmative. A rest for my son and I could do us some good I believe. My thirst could be quenched." Ichigo accepted the woman's offer, getting her to mentally sigh in relief before cheerfully pivoting on her heels to saunter on inside.

"C'mon then you two, we don't have all day!" She declared brightly, missing the smirk that crossed Kakashi's concealed features as he started following Ichigo and the woman inside of the tea house.

'Ichigo, you sly dog.' Kakashi mused to himself, stopping next to the house and running his finger down the building before taking his finger off of it and looking at it to see it was coloured pink. This confirmed Kakashi's fact that the tea house was only recently painted today, '…What happened here?'

XxX

The inside didn't exactly match the front. The walls were shaded in grey, and looked darker than the usual colour grey. Ichigo could see some parts of the wall that were lighter, usually the ones that were shaped in a square as if a picture frame had been on the wall for years and only taken off just this morning. Lastly, there were four tables shaped in a rectangle shape and tinted white with red edges. Each table had four red seats around it.

More girls greeted Ichigo and then Kakashi after the masked-boy had walked into the shop. Three of them had light brown long hairs and another two had long black hairs tied back in ponytails There were only two of the ten beautiful girls that weren't stereotyped with the rest of them. One of them was looking grumpy and wearing the same uniform as the first girl Ichigo and Kakashi had met outside. She had blue spiky hair to display her toughness.

The last girl did not have on the same uniform as the other eight girls and had green hair falling to her back and brown eyes. She wore a long red coat and no shirt or trousers, instead opting to wear a red bra, red toed high heels and red panties. She stood behind the counter looking professional despite her revealing attire.

All of the girls had a few things in common. Their elegance was amazingly high up, almost on a celestial level. Their hips were curvaceous, and their breasts were basically watermelons. It was almost suspiciously so, how their elegance was so… _divine_.

"Is tea alright for you two?" The same dark brown haired girl from outside asked the two.

"Sure." Ichigo murmured, not caring for the ladies' beauties as he strolled over to a table with Kakashi by his side. The girls were almost put off by Ichigo's attitude. Had he caught onto them? Impossible. But no guy could resist their stunning looks, so what was this man's game?

"Sister Ringo, fetch our two fine guests two cups of tea." The dark brown haired girl told the blue haired one who groused in return and stomped off to get the two warriors a couple of drinks.

"So," The busty dark brown haired girl started lustfully after Ichigo and Kakashi had taken their seats across from each other, Ichigo of course unsheathing Zangetsu off of his back and stabbing him into the ground resoundingly, causing the women to gulp, "Are you two on a business trip? Oh, and could I please have your names? Pretty please with a cherry on the top," She asked innocently, walking over to Ichigo with her hands on her hips, swaying her hips from side to side in a bid to get a reaction from the stone-faced samurai and his scarecrow 'son'.

They could see Kakashi stealing discreet glances at them. Whether that meant he was on to them or that he secretly found them attractive only the lord knew, but they took it as the latter since he had a porno in his hand which he was contently reading. Ichigo, however, kept his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed as if he were meditating on the spot.

The woman wrapped her arm around Ichigo's neck and signalled him with a nudge to his shoulder to let her sit on his lap, but the stoic one was not to be moved. He didn't flinch even as the stunned woman strolled behind him and ensnared her arms around his neck as an alternative for not resting on his lap.

"Business. Ichigo. Kurosaki." Ichigo summarized. The girl almost felt put off how emotionless the man sounded.

"A mission to capture a fugitive from another village whom was last sighted in Kaminari no Kuni." Kakashi summarized completely, missing the smirk that crossed the blue haired girl's face as she noticed his Leaf headband concealing his left eye as she placed his and Ichigo's teas in front of them.

"Much obliged." Kakashi thanked her, not looking at his tea to know it was there as he heard the small thud it made as he continued to enjoy the pictures of his book, getting slightly turned on by it.

"The pleasure was all mine." The blue haired woman identified as Ringo smiled malevolently at the boy, getting stern looks from her 'sisters' that made her roll her eyes before she addressed Ichigo, "I take it you two must be high up on the foo-." The other girls sharply moved their index fingers cross their throats, telling Ringo to knock it off, "I mean you big boys must be very strong to get a mission where only the two of you are required for it. I heard ninjas operate in groups of four."

"That's true to an extent." Kakashi spoke up, prompting himself to explain how the system worked in a ninja village to the ignorant woman, "But only when a ninja who's gained the rank of Jonin and has gotten himself three little cute genin to train operate in groups of four. Most of the time ninjas work in trios after one if not all of the genin-ninjas advance to the rank of chunin after impressing their kage in the chunin exams with their tactical and leadership-skills." The masked-boy casted a look to Ichigo as if to say he'd explained that for his own benefit too.

Ichigo cracked open an eye to let Kakashi know he appreciated the info the kid had given him.

"Wow…" The dark haired brown girl drawled out dreamily, stars in her eyes, "I'm guessing you must be jonin-ranked among your village sir with that big sword you carry there."

"I have no rank." Ichigo said, his eye shutting again while the women blinked in a puzzled manner.

"What the heck do you mean by that… sir?" Ringo questioned.

"I am not affiliated with Konoha. This mission is not a ninja related one, but a ronin one." Ichigo murmured. The women's eyes all widened as most gained sated smirks on their faces and began rubbing their hands together.

The one with the green hair rubbed her chin as if she'd a beard, 'Interesting. So the boy's not officially apart of Konoha's forces. Perhaps this'll be easier than we thought.' The 'woman' decided to dig a little deeper into this, speaking up loud enough for everyone to hear her, "So, whatcha doing in Konoha? I take it you've been there a while if you've settled down and have a son already."

'What the hell are you playing at old man Kenji?!' Ringo wildly asked herself, wanting to pull out her hair while finding it increasingly difficult to sustain her sweet persona.

'No. A handsome man like this can't have a woman! He must be _mine_.' The dark haired girl mused selfishly, possessively taking in Ichigo's scent with her arms still around the stoic one's neck, 'C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! Get turned on! Get miffed! Get mad! ANYTHING! DON'T JUST SIT THERE YOU EMOTIONLESS FREAK!'

"I'm a wandering samurai." Ichigo's voice broke the woman from her thoughts.

'Bingo! This could be our lucky day! We could be bringing home a samurai and an Uzumaki! Onoki-sama'll have to praise us! He'll just have to!' One of the light brown haired girls squeaked in her mind. The other girls were all thinking around the same the lines.

"Ah. So Tetsu no Kuni appears to be losing some of their solders, do they?" The green haired girl blurted out before realizing she may have blown their cover as the other girls turned to her with panic written all over their faces, "I mean I've heard about that place from some respectable ninja, yes I did."

The others sighed in relief as Kakashi grinned a little smugly while flipping a page of his little orange book.

'It seems like their covers are almost blown. I wonder how Ichigo-san'll fair against them. Perhaps I might hang back and observe the man for myself, see what he's made out of. After all Hokage-sama did say he was looking to ally Ichigo with Konoha.' The boy wonder mused.

Ichigo unfolded his arms, one reaching out for his tea cup, gripping it, and lifting it up to his mouth while the girls eagerly anticipated the results of Ichigo's first sip while the divine shinigami stared thoughtfully at the green tea, 'What do you think old man?'

"_Do you mean of the women or the tea? Because I believe these females are the ones that were following you and that boy earlier, they have the same reiatsu signatures. The tea, however, I'm not so sure. It looks pretty ordinary," _Zangetsu summarized.

'The hollow, it'll devour it,' Ichigo replied to his zanpakuto's spirit, hearing a frustrated groan come from the devilish being of which he preferred to in his inner monologue. 'Get to work.' Ichigo knew it was listening. His voice held no pity for it.

"**Yeah. Yeah. I hear ya King**." The Hollow bitched before suddenly feeling like a boss as Ichigo closed his eyes so no one would see the shift in colour from his usual hazel hued eyes to the yellow ones with black sclera. The hollow tilted Ichigo's head back and brought the tea cup to Ichigo's lips, sipping on the warm tea that tasted a little salty, "**Ack. A little on the salty side but it's definitely has a poisonous feel to it**."

"_Well that should settle it then right Ichigo? These women are obviously the ten reiatsu signatures you picked up earlier, not to mention they don't appear to be their selves, talking in one accent before quickly switching to another. My guess would be that this was all a ploy to lure you and the boy in here and drink their poisonous tea. Ninjas are not exactly the honest type I believe_." Zangetsu surmised and Ichigo grunted affirmatively.

"**So these sluts are, and I quote, 'already dead' then, hey King**?" The Hollow questioned, grinning malevolently as it remembered its jailor brutally slaughtering that dumb man who was stupid enough to challenge Ichigo. Ichigo let out another grunt of confirmation that got The Hollow bouncing up and down joyously, "**Oh right! Finally, some action's about to start! I can't wait! I just wish you'd let me out for the party so I can devour every last one of those slutty ladies! After all you can never be too full! Am I right lads, huh?**"

'Good. He's drank the tea. Old man Kasuga said the poison will work in five minutes. Hopefully by then that kid would've drunken his tea as well. Then it's smooth coasting from there.' One of the light brown haired girls thought to herself.

The green haired lady grew a little incredulous of Kakashi and Ichigo, not fully being able to believe that the two haven't covered them as of yet but was still thankful they hadn't, "I also heard that Konohagakure had a good relationship with Uzushiogakure before the latter met an unfortunate end."

Mentally, Ichigo half pushed himself into the driving seat that was his body, making the hollow grumble how rude it was of him to forcefully shove a partnership on it. Ichigo ignored it as something of significance piqued his curiosity, "Uzushiogakure." That village reminded Ichigo a lot of the Uzumaki-clan since both names meant water in some way, "That's where the Uzumaki clan hails from, does it not?"

Ringo looked at Ichigo as if he were some alien from a celestial dimension, "Where have you been sir? That poor village got gangbanged and eradicated during the Shinobi War Eras! Every last sucker including the Uzumaki clan got wiped out in a blur, barring a few lucky survivors." Kakashi glanced at the girl interestedly, noticing the 180 change in her personality while the other girls sighed as if they had already accepted this to happen as a one hundred per-cent fact.

Ichigo, however, fully shoved the hollow out of the driver's seat, sending it spiralling to the abyss of his mind while bitching how it shouldn't be like this.

Everyone present in the room flinched barring Ichigo at the noise of shattering glass, the brown haired girl instantly moving away from Ichigo with a surprised scream coming from her lips while the others sweated at the shocked-faced celestial one, not expecting him to react that way after a period of time.

'Shit! It didn't work!' Ringo cussed.

'Guess it's time for a fight then eh.' One of the brown haired girls thought with an easy-going smile on her face.

'This was inevitable. We should've foreseen this coming.' One of the more intelligent light brown haired girls thought, rubbing her wrists in preparation for a battle to commence.

'Alrighty I've been waiting for a fight for weeks now! Bring it on!' Another light brown haired girl squeaked in her mind in an excited manner.

'Maybe all hope's not lost. If we explain our motives he could be willing to join our side. Besides, judging by the look on his face I would surmise he's somewhat close to a member of the Uzumaki clan in some-way. He couldn't be an Uzumaki since that clan's members were known for their distinctive red hairs,' The green haired girl concluded.

"Uzumaki-clan." The hybrid muttered, normal hazel eyes wide to depict his great surprise at finding out the chirpy woman who took him in was from a clan on the verge of extinction no less, "No more?"

The ladies all gave him looks of confusion as they surmised that he was effected by that 'tea' in some way, "Yes. Barring a few, the Uzumaki-clan is virtually no more." The green haired lady explained to Ichigo, receiving a grunt from him before he regained his zombie-like look on his face, his stoic persona returning once again, "I take it you're close to a surviving member of said clan."

"Kushina…" Ichigo mumbled aloud, making disappointment appear on the dark brown haired girl's face as she thought that was Ichigo's wife. 'I see now. You took me in… because you were lonely, were you not Kushina?' Ichigo could relate to that because he himself had felt alone in this world. It kept him awake many nights chained up in that cold torture chamber, knowing he was safely concealed in a ninja's village while his family and friends were either being taken to the slaughter-house to be massacred or taken to the slaughter-house to work as slaves for the madman Sosuke Aizen.

And it was all because of _him_!

_He_ failed them!

His one job, to _protect_, and _Ichigo_ couldn't even do that right.

'Kushina's a strong one.' Ichigo realized. The red haired beauty remained so cheerful and happy in despite of the many ghosts that haunted her, "Time to go now."

"Maa. I haven't even drunk my tea yet." Kakashi faked disappointment as Ichigo stood up from his seat amidst other faked disappointments at the duo's department.

"Awww. You're leaving already?" The dark brown haired girl asked in faked cuteness, 'Good. Go back to that slut queen then bastard! And why you're at it bring her and your fine ass to Iwagakure no Sato to be a part of our troops!'

"Indeed." Ichigo confirmed, looking at Kakashi as the masked-boy stood up and pushed his tea cup away from him, "Kakashi… go. I'll clean up. I'll catch up to you later."

"Are you sure about that Ichigo-san?" Kakashi asked, casting looks at the females that immediately got them to stiffen up, "It sure looks like a lot of _cleaning_ up to do."

"Positive." Ichigo confirmed.

"Alright then, if you say so. You did after all 'clean up' pretty well in the Uchiha-clan's compound. You should do well here too. I'll be waiting for you down the road." Kakashi gave one last eye-smile to Ichigo before quickly propping his book underneath his chin to create a set of hand-signs invisible to the normal human-eye before vanishing in a puff of smoke with leaves shrouding it.

"Did he just tell his son to leave the building while he fights us on his own?" Hachirou asked in a whisper of a voice.

"It makes sense. Fathers usually are protective of their sons." Takashi responded to his brother, still henged in his pink clad girl-form.

"Why did you order your cute little son to leave you here by yourself, sir?" The dark brown haired lady asked. She was generally curious and wanted to know the answer before she dropped the façade.

Ichigo's hand touched the top part of his zanpakuto, "I find it redundant to tell you that."

"How come?"

"…Because you're already dead."

This statement caused the 'females' to immediate stiffen their postures, "What the hell do you mean by that!" Ringo asked heatedly, her true colours surfacing, "Hey, I'm talking to yo-. What? Where'd the hell did that guy go?"

A puff of smoke occur from the dark brown haired girl and when it faded away it revealed a lanky man clad in light red ninja garbs with a pink flower-patterned suit of armour around the chest area, a light red mask covering his shocked face and a headband with a insignia for Iwagakure no Sato engraved into the template area tied around his forehead.

The suit of armour had a smudge of blood on the peck area or somewhere around that area.

The nine henged ninjas immediately huddled around their shocked faced comrade while shifting their heads from side to side with caution, "It doesn't make any sense! One minute the guy was there, and the next second he wasn't!" Benjirou squeaked, dropping his henge to reveal a person clad in dark red ninja garbs with dark red armour around his chest area. A red headband with a double rock insignia engraved into the template area was also tied around his forehead which was covered by a red mask over his face that only left his cerulean blue eyes on show.

All of his brothers took that moment to drop their henges to reveal similar attires to that of their brother.

"He couldn't have gotten far. I hardly doubt he would tell Kasuga he was dead just to run off at the first chance he had." Takashi said, "But again, he could've used our confusion to make his escape. It would've been ten on one otherwise."

"God! How could we let that masked boy go like that? We're so stupid!" Sanjirou grumbled.

"Now, now, perhaps all hope's not lost. He couldn't have gotten far, right Kasuga?" The laid back Shu asked his brother, getting no response from him, "Right?" He turned to his brother to see him holding the part of his chest where his heart was while breathing hollowly.

"B-Brothers…" Kasuga stammered, striking concern on his brothers' faces, "H-He t-took i-it."

"What? What did that man take from you Kasuga?" Kenji asked, stepping towards his brother and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"M-my…" Blood spewed forth from Kasuga's mouth, getting expressions of astonishment to appear all over his brothers' faces as they fretted over him.

"What's happening to you? What'd that man do to you?" Benjirou asked loudly, panicking as he watched his older brother die before him.

"He…" He could say no more as the light in his eyes were switched off, all of his brothers' eyes widening as Kenji caught him and gasped hugely once Kasuga's hand fell from his chest to reveal a bloody smear shaped hole where the heart should be.

"BROTHER!" They shouted.

Like Ichigo said, she-. _He_ was already dead.


	9. Staring into the Abyss of Insanity

**Chapter 9**

**Staring Into the Abyss of Insanity **

"His heart…" Kenji slowly said.

"Precisely," Ichigo's voice rang out insensitively, getting anger to flash on Sanjirou's face as he turned to see Ichigo standing behind them as if he had been there the whole time. Blood harmlessly dripped from Ichigo's clenched fist.

"You bastard, you killed him!" Sanjirou raged.

"Just like how you… _guys_ were going to kill me and the boy, heh." Ichigo's voice held no amusement in it as he raised his clenched fist and opened it up, showing the brothers the red heart he ripped out of their sibling's chest so fast the pain hadn't reached him until a few seconds had passed.

"So you knew all along did you?" Kenji said, staring calmly at Ichigo.

"Not really," Ichigo shrugged, casually rolling up his sleeve before crushing the heart in his grip, the blood of the deceased man covering his right hand and wrist.

Shu had his teeth grit at the sight of his brother's heart getting squashed asunder by the orange haired bastard in front of him, 'Brother… it wasn't meant to be like this… we were meant to kill that silver haired boy, and kidnap that Uzumaki-woman… But don't worry, we'll avenge your death my brother.'

"Don't play with us bastard! If you didn't know we were henged into females, then why did you kill our brother for, huh?!" Sanjirou questioned.

"I'm not quite familiar to your ninja culture. This henge you speak of is new to me." Ichigo confessed. The nine siblings were looking at him as if he were a foreigner not from the Elemental Nations.

'He's unaware of a simple jutsu such as Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Jutsu). Interesting. We could use this to our advantage in our bid to subdue him. We still need to probe him for the whereabouts of the Uzumaki in Konoha.' Kenji mused, laying his dead brother on the ground of the tea house, "If you couldn't see through our henge, sir, then how were you able to tell our motives weren't pure."

Ichigo tapped his temple, "I can sense your reiatsu signatures like a bloodhound sniffing out scents. You were the ten from before following us from the shadows, were you not?"

"Reiatsu? What the heck are you talking about?" Sanjirou yelled, hands balled into fists with his back slightly hunched over in a typical street brawler stance. He was ready to unleash a can of whoop ass on this guy for slaughtering his brother.

"That's unnecessary, as your ticket to the underworld has already been booked…"

Sanjirou growled frustratingly, feeling angry that Ichigo would underestimate him and declare him a dead man before the two even got the time to fight. "Don't try that with me dummy! You just got lucky with old man Kasuga! It won't happen again! Do you know who we are, huh, do ya fool? We're the Kage no chinmoku no kyōdai (the silent brothers of the shadows)! You have no chance in hell of beating us together!"

"Steady your emotions brother, you're playing directly into his hands flying off of the handle like this." Kenji mentioned, throwing his arm out to the side as if it would really settle down the hot-headed Sanjirou. Sanjirou, to his credit, did immediately stop, as if he were a frozen statue, "Excellent." His arm lowered, "Now we can prepare a plan to defeat this man. Is everyone good with that?"

The others nodded at their eldest brother's command while Shu tried to ease Sanjirou down, sensing the 'stress' built up inside of his brother while the black clad man remained frozen, hands open and face seemingly blurring out of existence, "Yo, bro, take it easy. We'll defeat this man for what he did to Kas-."

An eruption of blood from the now stump that was Sanjirou's head cut Shu off as he and his remaining brothers were showered in the red liquid of their deceased brash brother, "SANJIROU!" They all shouted at once upon seeing the corpse of Sanjirou fall to its knees and onto its tummy, bonelessly.

"Shit. How'd he do that? It must be some kind of genjutsu!" Hachirou stressed, grabbing his mask in exasperation and fear. He stiffened upon hearing a calm voice come from the side of him.

"My hand slipped." Ichigo murmured unmercifully, causing the brothers to bristle before flinching out of suppressed fear. Slipped? More like slide across the man's throat.

"Is that…" Takashi started to realize reluctantly, pointing a finger at the silhouette in Ichigo's hand. Ichigo nodded, lifting his arm up to show Takashi what he feared all along. "No… he ripped off his head." Ichigo hummed, choosing to remorselessly squash the head in his grip, blood smearing all over his hand up to his wrist. Hey, these guys wanted to kill him and Kakashi first with that poisonous tea. In this world it was either kill or be killed. And by this day, Ichigo would eternally choose kill.

No way would he ever roll over and die, especially when he more or less had a kid under his protection.

This ninja-world was like a warzone all day, every day of the week.

And only the strongest would survive.

The eight of the remaining Kage no chinmoku no kyōdai (the silent brothers of the shadows) were all thoroughly on edge after witnessing Ichigo murder two of their brothers without blinking an eyelash as if he were doing something as tedious as mowing the front garden.

'No way, he's dismantled Kasuga and Sanjirou as if they were nothing but toys to do as he pleases to them! This isn't good… we still need to interrogate him for information of where the Uzumaki lies in Konoha, but the way he's going about this, leaves us little option but to murder him before he murders us!' Kenji was rattling his brain for a situation to this dilemma, 'Perhaps I could strike a deal with him. After all the poison he drank hasn't shown hints of its effects on him, which leaves me thinking he may be immune to poison. Maybe if we appeal to his needs, he'll see that we're not his enemies, but his allies," Kenji snickered deviously, 'This could workout in our favour.'

Sure Ichigo had killed his brothers, but they were expendable anyway, as were all ninjas. They were all little more than tools meant to be used to their maximum before getting broken and thrown to the trash where a new, fresher tool would pop out of the tool's shop (the academy) to take the former tool's place.

"Oh man! He's gonna kill us if we don't do something you guys!" Hachirou panicked before Kenji could offer Ichigo the deal that would (hopefully) see him become a respectable ninja of Iwagakure no Sato. Kenji cussed mentally as he watched his frightened sibling flash through a set of hand-signs, "Horse – Dog - Bird – Ox - Snake!"

Takashi, Atsushi, Jiro, Benjirou, Ryo, Shu, and Kenji all bolted to the side in swift evasion as the ground beneath them started quaking from the effects of Hachirou's jutsu. Ichigo merely regarded it all with indifference even as the ground he was standing on crumbled like apple crumble. The tables and chairs fell victim to the swirling motion of the floor as if a tidal wave was occurring right this instance, only with rock and ground instead of water. Then the seismic (dirt) sea wave collapsed in on itself, causing dirt and a mass amount of it to flow through the air, obscuring the views of many before the blander was switched on so to speak, as the dirt began its rapid rotation, successfully transforming itself into a hurricane! Bits of rocks, pebbles, splinters of broken furniture, and the torn apart ground that fell in on itself all assembled into the filthy twister, and merged together to create one powerful creature of immense power! Its long body stretched itself up, bringing _up _the roof instead of down off of the small tea house and letting the moon light shine on the wreckage the 'fight' had caused thus far. In exchange for scales, the creature had pebbles embedding its body, and its usual red sclera were just two holes which compromised for its eyes.

"**Doton: Dosekiryū no Jutsu (Earth Release: Earth and Stone Dragon Jutsu)**!"

Hachirou thrown his arm outward, commanding his dragon to soar its way to Ichigo, and eradicate him whole. Bad Idea, as Ichigo gripped his Zanpakuto, blindingly swinging Zangetsu upward once the dragon came within his personal space while the tearing the small tea house asunder and forcing it to collapse due to the pressure of the dragon invading its area. The brothers were naturally disconcerted due to the collapsing of the house that made dirt spew forth and obstructed their views of Ichigo. It was very inconvenient for them. They weren't going to be prepared for what happened next. If they could see they would've seen Ichigo with his broadsword raised in the air, the earth dragon made by Hachirou frozen solid, inches away from Ichigo's face as if the stoic one had gained full control over it.

"What happened? Did Hachirou's jutsu hit him?" Jiro asked as the dust started to dispense and his eyes went wide seeing the earth dragon inches away from Ichigo and slowly beginning to gain cracks all over its body.

Spontaneously, the dragon scattered into a million little pieces and were launched at high magnitudes at the shocked siblings who all whispered mommy in high pitched voices. Only the two oldest brothers in Kenji and Takashi were able to avoid moving to the flames of Hell using their experience to evade the stone needle-like pebbles of death. They used the corpses of their already dead brothers, Kasuga and Sanjirou, as two replacements to tank the sharp projectiles of stone for them. The others in Jiro, Benjirou, Shu, Atsushi, Ryo, and Hachirou unfortunately did not have lady luck on their side as the pebbles penetrated their bodies like six pincushions, six pincushions screaming horrifyingly while crimson red blood disgorged from their bodies.

'…W-What power," Takashi awed frighteningly, standing tremblingly and nervously eyeing the corpses of his brothers littering the wreckage of the once tea house that was no more but mere pieces of wood surrounding the ground. Even a certain silver-haired youngster could clearly see the one-sided battle unfold and was in utter amazement how masterfully Shinin no yōna Ichigo ( The Deathly Strawberry) had ordered the eight brothers of the feared Kage no chinmoku no kyōdai (the silent brothers of the shadows) eight tickets to spend the rest of their days in the underworld.

'There's no way we can beat this guy! It's absurd to even think we can beat him! Even Sutorīmu no Dansei (the Man of Stream) would get a decent warm up defeating this thing.' Takashi mused, making a set of hand-signs for his escape, 'Sorry, brother, but you'll have to hold him off while I make my escape… Lord Onoki-sama must be informed of this… Ichigo.' A layer of mud appeared to grow up in front of Takashi before it morphed into a perfect replica of Takashi who nodded to itself and focused its attention on the ruthless orange haired man.

Ichigo's feet began carrying him toward his victims, not caring that one of them had inexplicably split his reiatsu in half, as long as they were out of his sight and out of his hair then it was all good. His eyes weren't even open as he continued his stroll to the scared duo. Kenji gulped subconsciously, waving his hands around in a placating manner, "Hey, now, let's not get hasty. Do you really need to kill us? You know it's not too late to join us." He almost flinched as Ichigo reopened his eyes to look at him, "Iwagakure no Sato (Village Hidden by Rocks) is always looking for new tools, Ichigo."

"Your brothers," Ichigo whispered, making Kenji blink at him, "You'd sell them out?"

"Of course." Kenji said without hesitation, "Ninjas are tools after all meant to be used to their maximum until they get worn out and broken. Then they get thrown away, or sometimes recycled if they have special 'parts' in their bodies that can be reused, like the leaf village's sharingan for instance. The cycle continues with the younger youths coming out of the academy. Rinse and repeat my friend." Ichigo just sighed acceptingly, a remembrance of how harsh the rules were in the Soul Society flashing in his mind. Even the training system seemed somewhat similar. Little kids like Itachi were already being nurtured to grow into a powerful ninja like shinigamis such as Yachiru already being a celestial warrior despite being so young.

There can be no leniency whatever Ichigo ends up.

Kenji feared as Ichigo's footsteps did not stop coming toward him, "Hey, hey, hey, hey! What are you doing lad? You don't want to kill me you know! That wouldn't be in your best interest!" A dark gleam covered Ichigo's eyes, his apathetical stroll not ceasing for a second, causing Kenji to panic as he saw a semblance of a shadow shroud Ichigo, the shadow expanding above Ichigo's head and hovering there as if it were representing Ichigo's true form in all its eeriness. Its face looked bony, very skeleton-like with its black clothes, a onyx Kimono top, tattered, showing its bones, and coal hakama pants, 'W-What… is t-this… man…? Is… he a death monster?' The fear was all too much for him as he felt like his eardrums were broken as all he heard were the sounds of Ichigo's footsteps lifelessly advancing in on him like a ticking time bomb.

Kenji had to think of something soon or Ichigo would kill him!

"Wait! Wait! Please wait! Just hear me out please! The Uzumakis… you do w-want to s-save them from extinction, right? J-join Iwa's ranks, and lord Onoki-sama will take good care of your Uzumaki friend along with the rest of them!" Kenji sweated, begging the god of all gods that the divine orange haired one wouldn't see it necessary to finish him off. Kenji recoiled immensely as Ichigo majestically appeared inches in front of him in a blur of super speed. This man… this orange haired wonder… was on a whole other level.

"Kushina," Ichigo whispered, hand reaching for the terrified man's face. "No one's touching her." With that he silenced Kenji by gripping his face, Kenji seeing black as he screamed to the heavens.

XxX

A thud echoed out from the bushes, creating a small cloud of dirt from where it landed.

"Insane…" Kakashi murmured behind the bushes. It was here where the gifted one watched Ichigo single-handedly eradicate some of Iwa's best shinobi without so much of breaking a sweat. Hell, the orange haired mass of skill and power speedily sliced and diced that huge dragon into many tiny pieces at such blinding pace it appeared as if he had only made one giant slash to it.

Kakashi only knew this (just barely) because he lifted up his headband from his left eye to use his gift given to him by Obito, and even then it was little more than a wild mazy set of blurs to him. Unreal.

"But on the bright side at least I got myself a brand new jutsu." Kakashi said positively, "Hmm. Doton: Dosekiryū no Jutsu (Earth Release: Earth and Stone Dragon Jutsu), huh? Seems like quite the handy jutsu. Well, I'm sure it'll work on anyone who isn't essentially a god."

Kakashi bent down to pick up from he dropped. And no, he didn't drop the soap, (thankfully), it was his Icha-Icha paradise book which fell from his lifeless grip after dying from the aftershock of seeing Ichigo mercilessly slaying the feared Kage no chinmoku no kyōdai. It was understandable.

After Kakashi had picked up his porno, he almost flinched as he witnessed Ichigo's eyes zone in on his position before the godly Kurosaki's voice calmly echoed through the air, "Come. It's over now."

Kakashi nodded, prying open the bushes like a set of jail-bars with a tentative eye-smile on his features, "Your sensory ability is rather impressive. And you defeated ten of Iwa's Jonin-elites. I'd say that's a step up in the right direction for you Ichigo-san?"

"Did you know them?" Ichigo asked.

"Not personally," Kakashi admitted, "But they were extremely well-known for their expert stealth and flawless henges. Oh, in case you don't know what a henge is, it's an ability which allows the user to completely disguise him or herself into an enemy ninja if they have an infiltration mission to do, or even plants or animals. Normally most ninjas can see through the ordinary henge but if skilful ninjas uses a henge like the Jonin-elites you killed it can be very difficult to tell the difference between a henge and the person behind the henge." Kakashi explained informatively.

"Did you?" Ichigo questioned.

Kakashi shook his head shamelessly, "I didn't see through those ninja's henges per say, I was only suspicious of them because that particular tea shop was once owned by a kind old lady that my teammates and I used to visit quite often during our days of chunin."

Ichigo nodded his head in understanding, "Don't worry, most are dead now. The lady can rest easy."

"Most?"

"One got away."

Kakashi's eye widened at Ichigo's clarification as the orange haired man merely jerked his thumb at the mud puddle of the formerly lookalike of the ninja Takashi of the ten brothers of the shadows, "Doton Bunshin (Earth clone)." Kakashi realized with a growl before looking at Ichigo with urgency in his eye, "Ichigo, we should abandon and head back to Konoha immediately."

"Why?" Ichigo questioned as if Kakashi had gone mad.

"Because that ninja whom escaped will more than likely head back to Tsuchi no Kuni (Land of Earth), a place notoriously known for its Earth wielders, like Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire), the country we're still in now is a country famously known for the amount of shinobi who possess fire natures. If he manages to head back there, he'll head straight to Iwagakure no Sato, and inform the Tsuchikage who might even be willing to send out their most prominent shinobi once he's learns a freelance samurai of Konoha has dealt them a blow of such significance."

Ichigo's response to Kakashi's warning was to continue on his way to where he was going before stopping to kill those Iwa's shinobi. Though, he did learn some interesting things, like for instance how this country he was in now was littered with shinobi capable of using jutsu like Fugaku because most of them possess a 'fire nature'.

Ichigo would think that it would be like that for the other countries, the shinobi inhabiting those countries being proficient in the element of their country, made sense. He was sure he would find out on any other mission he would take from the old man in charge of Konoha.

"Go if you must. I'll continue on. Come and come back home after it's done." Ichigo informed him, not breaking stride as Kakashi hurried to him and grabbed his arm to attempt to pull him back.

"You don't understand, Ichigo! Even Minato-sama was wary of fighting Sutorīmu no dansei! He'll kill you if you two meet!" Kakashi warned frantically, desperately trying to pull Ichigo away from Kaminari no Kuni and his death to no avail whatsoever as Ichigo wouldn't slow his casual stride for nothing.

"Whatever," Ichigo said and effectively ended the controversy between him and Kakashi.

"Damn it…" Kakashi cussed, letting go of Ichigo and watching him walk forward for a few seconds, "I guess I got no choice but to follow you then Ichigo. You'd be lost without me. I just hope you know what you're doing though." Ichigo merely nodded his head as the two resumed their walk to Kaminari no Kuni in the glowing moonlight.

XxX

(With Orochimaru and Kushina)

Fear was said to do a lot of things to a shinobi. It most certainly did a lot for the red haired beauty. Her usual loud and chirpy voice was quiet and soft as a mouse as the snake-man offered his hand to her to help her up to her feet. She tremblingly shook her head, gulping hard as Orochimaru just gave her that creepy smile of his.

The black haired man simply went behind Kushina and ensnared her shoulders before forcefully hurling her to her feet that made her suppress a wince as his hands gave her Goosebumps all over her body. She wanted to scream as she cuddled the crying Naruto tight in her arms, but Orochimaru slithering arm going around her neck to set his paled hand on her shoulder cut her off.

Kushina felt nervous as a rain fall of sweat rapidly fell from her beautiful face while Orochimaru led her off somewhere while keeping his hand on her shoulder as if he were her father. It was frightening how he could make a hostage situation seem like a daily occurrence for a father and a daughter.

The villagers merely regarded Orochimaru with a bow of respect and the occasional utterance of, "Ah. It's good to see you Orochimaru-sama."

Even one as, "Looking after the younger ones I see."

And one that made Kushina flinch horrifyingly, "Your daughter looks very beautiful Orochimaru-sama. And your grandson looks adorable too. I know he'll be an overwhelmingly powerful shinobi like you Orochimaru-sama." Kushina was just thankful that Orochimaru was well-known within the village of Konohagakure no Sato and the world due to his mythic status as a sannin. It also helped that the sannins were old enough to be her parents.

Otherwise he may have been mistaken for his… *pukes* lover.

It also helped that Kushina was known as the 'Yondaime's honourable wife'… nothing more, nothing less.

She despised that. Growing up, all the red head girl desired was to be recognized as a powerful female. And not just the run of the mill females only making it to A-class level at best, no, Kushina had her sights set on a bigger prize.

She wanted to become the first female to become the Hokage!

Ever!

Kushina looked toward Tsunade was inspiration. Tsunade was everything the red haired girl longed to be. She was strong, independent, and feared throughout the world, to the point the very mention of her name set the alarm bells off. And she was a Senju, solidifying Kushina's daughterly-like love for the woman.

Senjus were for the win after all!

Tobirama Senju set it all up, and stabilized the relationship built between the Senju-clan and the Uzumaki-clan by the marriage of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki. The white haired celestial Hokage was prominent in the transfer of Kushina from Uzu no Kuni to Hi no Kuni because he saw the potential in the young girl. Her special chakra and ability to materialize massive chains could've been very beneficial to Konohagakure no Sato and Uzushiogakure no Sato (Village Hidden in the Eddies).

So why was Kushina only at low A-class level at best? Whereas Minato was a low S-classed shinobi along with Hiruzen while the two Senju brothers were high S-classed shinobis bordering on insane levels, both pushing past S-class level if that was even possible. Anything past S-class level was considered to be incomprehensibly powerful!

That was some celestial DBZ-nonsense!

…Like a K-class level. (Kami-class).

It was a _godly _level in its own league.

A young arrogant Kushina believed she could get to that level and she sought to climb the celestial ladder to power, but she could never reach that level or even low S-class. Maybe it was because she was too busy fighting the kids mocking her and her idealistic dream of being a powerful shinobi as a woman to train and master godly jutsus that would put her on that plateau of her own idol Tobirama.

Kushina imagined herself in a bright white room with a light shining so bright it almost blinded her from the man with shockingly yellow hair, Minato Namikaze! Her stunned eyes locked onto the seemingly solid form of Minato, and for a second she thought she had gone crazy until the golden haired wonder started drifting further and further away from her.

'Why is this happening? I… I t-thought I w-was w-with… O-Orochimaru.' Kushina thought, finding it hard to speak as if she had lost her voice.

It became all too obvious as Minato continued to slide away from Kushina without moving his feet as if he were on a set of escalators that this was a metaphor to display that difference in strength levels between Kushina and Minato. Even as the red head tried to catch up to Minato, who was already far above her, she never could.

Her strength lingered on low A-class while Minato's soared close to matching Hiruzen's.

She despised that greatly, as it wounded her pride knowing how shinobi would run at the very mention of Minato's name. Along with Tobirama's technique Minato had the title Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō bestowed upon him by Iwagakure's elites after killing so many of their shinobi.

It was their way of spreading the message to their forces and the other ones around the Elemental Nations that if they came face to face with a man with golden yellow hair, get the fuck out. Don't ask questions, just run and never look back. And hopefully he won't flash behind you and kill your ass.

Kushina envied that fear and respect Minato had spread like AIDS and earned like the president respectively, casually on the level of Hiruzen and the legendary sannins. To be so strong she could just utter her name and her enemies would run in fear of her. She would have enough power that celestial guys like Orochimaru wouldn't scare her so much.

Kushina wouldn't have to give herself the nickname Akai-Chishio-no-Habanero, (Red Hot-Blooded Habanero), in order to make herself feel adequate. The red head had a remembrance of how inadequate she felt once Minato had the honour of being recognized as Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō for slaughtering so many Iwa's nins in the Third Great Shinobi War, and ascended to heavenly glory once Hiruzen handed the crown of Hokage over to him.

It went downhill from there for poor Kushina. Her adventures as a ninja of Konoha, her struggles in the Chunin exams with Mikoto, her wide-range of sealing abilities, and her Chakra chains… all became a thing of the past. No one so much of even said, 'Hey, you're that Uzumaki-girl, the one with the special chakra or something.'

Kushina was eternally in the shadows of Minato.

"It's upstanding divine ninjas like you and your other sannin teammates that keep this village as the strongest in the Elemental Nations. I feel so assured in my old life under such powerful protection. God bless your soul."

An abrupt change in scenery startled Kushina as she found herself walking alongside Orochimaru once again on the streets of Konoha with Naruto in her arms. She might've screamed, (in her mind at least), 'stupid civilians. Can't they tell the difference between a hostage situation and a nice walk in the hot day shared between a father and a daughter! If it wasn't for the fact she was frightened how quick she went from her little fantasy world into reality.

'…What's going on?' Kushina hyperventilated, turning her eyes to her little son in her arms before deciding to get brave and steal a quick glance at Orochimaru, only to gasp in horror to find he was no longer standing next to her.

It was her worst nightmare that stood before her, seemingly multiplying in numbers and wielding chains in their hands. It was the very reason why she felt in love with Minato when the golden haired wonder located her by smartly eyeing the road for any truces of Kushina's long red hair.

"No. This… isn't h-happening! Y-You guys… failed! Y-You lot c-can't be here for me. You can't!" Kushina was on the verge of tears as the very Kumo ninjas that infiltrated Konoha looking for her and succeeded in locating her down before capturing her for a period of time slowly stalked in on her.

Kushina instinctually stepped backwards, holding Naruto close to her, "Please don't take me! I-I'm a m-momma now! I h-have a d-duty t-to m-my s-son!" Kushina pleaded with them, but they either said anything as they agonizingly advanced in on the trapped red head as if she were a rat, making her feel helpless as she shut her eyes and prayed that either Ichigo, lady Tsunade, Hiruzen, or Jiraiya would come to her aid and protect her.

The deep breathing (Darth Vader-style) of the Kumo-nin was heard by Kushina who had her eyes firmly shut while she continued to step away from the beings who kidnapped her all in the name of power!

Power!

Why was that sounding so tempting to Kushina right now? 'If only I was stronger… If only I had more power… Then…" The very words that Kushina contemplated to herself were repeated, only it wasn't in her voice…

"**I can lend you power…"**

Kushina's eyes widened at hearing Orochimaru's sulky voice in her head before the area around her blackened out. A pair of golden eyes was seen in the abyss of darkness as Kushina panicked.

"No! No! No! This can't be happening to me!" Kushina cried, losing the strength in her knees as she collapsed on them. The red head begged the high heavens that this nightmare would soon come to an end. She wasn't with Orochimaru! She was at home! She was with Ichigo and Naruto, making a dish of her fabulous ramen… dattebane!

"Drink up, dear. You look sweaty," Kushina gasped as she immediately found herself sitting on her knees within her own apartment with Orochimaru doing likewise with a deck of cards in his left hand. Baby Naruto was on her lap, a few cards in her right hand and two cups of tea on the table in front of her and Orochimaru.

What just happened?

"W-What's going on?" Kushina asked meekly.

"Silly girl, I walked you home. I made us some tea. We talked. I asked you some simple questions… and then you're breathing became all too intensive." Orochimaru explained as if they had just discussed something as simple as the weather.

Kushina swallowed a nervous lump down her throat, "W-What were we talking about?" She gently rocked Naruto in her arms, happy he wasn't crying. The last thing she wanted to do was hand her baby boy over to Orochimaru if the snake-man volunteered to soothe him for her. She wouldn't know what to tell him. The man was legendary; he could kill her and take her son if he wanted to.

Orochimaru gained a cryptic smile across his paled features, "Ohhhh, Just minor conversation dear."

Kushina swallowed hard. Orochimaru was making this difficult, "What about?" Orochimaru gave her a hum of curiosity at her whisper, cupping his hand to his ear.

"Forgive me if I sound rude in anyway, dear, but I'm _afraid _I did not hear that. Could you repeat that for me? I'm not so _young _as I use to be you know," Kushina shivered resoundingly, her eyes wide. He was on to her, but at the same time he managed to remain the enigma.

"I said what about?" Kushina repeated a little louder.

"What about?" Orochimaru stalled and Kushina bit her top lip, "Just kidding." Kushina mentally kicked herself when she visibly exhaled in relief, thankfully, or unthankfully, Orochimaru changed the subject with a question of his own, "You wouldn't want to traumatize your _baby boy, _little Naruto-chan would you?" Orochimaru creepily massaged the pillow on his lap.

Kushina frozen as she looked at her baby, seeing him still soundly sleeping on her lap, "What does that have to do with anything Orochimaru?"

"Oh. So it's not a simple enough question as I believed." Orochimaru said leisurely, straighting his head back. "My mistake dear," Kushina nodded her head once in an tentative manner as Orochimaru opted to ask another equally mysterious question as the first one. "You'd want to protect your baby boy, wouldn't you dear?"

"I-I'm course. I'm his momma. I'm meant to look after him." Kushina stated resolutely, subconsciously tightening her grip on Naruto. She loosened it after a couple of seconds and contently stroked Naruto's face.

"Just what I expected to hear from you," Orochimaru hissed smoothly, Kushina nodding along almost lifelessly, wishing this conversation would end and Orochimaru would just leave afterwards, "But you are aware of the fact most parents that are shinobi fail to protect their offsprings… and you know why that is, dear?"

Kushina shifted uncomfortably, "W-Well it's because their opponents had too much power for them."

Orochimaru clapped his hands together as if he were applauding the frightened woman's answer, "And why'd they feel like their opponents outclassed them so much? Shouldn't their 'will' to insure that their children lived another day be enough to subdue their adversaries, hmm?"

Kushina curled her lips inward as if trying to stall for time before answering Orochimaru's question like she was on trial for a serious offence, "I-It's not always like that I fear. Sometimes the parents protecting their children don't have the p-." Kushina stopped herself mid-sentence as she realized what she was going to say, but unfortunately for her, Orochimaru was more than willing to finish it off for her.

"It's because they lacked the necessary power to insure that their children lived, dear," Orochimaru grinned malevolently, Kushina humming gently as she subtly tried to inch herself away from Orochimaru but it was like she was glued to the spot. "This is why one must obtain absolute power so they don't die and leave their love ones in pain due to their deaths."

Kushina reluctantly nodded in agreement with the disturbed golden eyed snake. She certainly would not want to die and cause heartache to her precious baby boy Naruto, her best friend ever in Mikoto, and her other love ones and close friends pain. But this conversation was becoming increasingly awkward to have with Orochimaru. So perhaps she could switch it up, ask him a question, put him on a spot so to speak.

"W-Why d-do you desire immortality, Orochimaru-san?" Kushina asked in polite fashion, Orochimaru's eyes widening voluntarily, (oddly enough) at the question, making Kushina quickly explain how she knew of his motives, "I mean Jiraiya-tousama told me you want to live forever!"

"Oh. How sweet. So the fool's interested in my hobbies, eh." Kushina mustered up her best glare at Orochimaru for calling her fatherly-figure a fool that got him to shrug carelessly, "Well. It's of no secret. Why would I not want immortality, dear?"

"I dunno, why would you want it?" Kushina questioned. She stubbornly resisted to fall prey to Orochimaru's tricks.

Orochimaru liked that indeed. It made this more of a challenge then. Okay, he would throw her a bone. She had earned that with her tenaciousness, as little as it was, it was there. Hmph. Maybe that nickname she gave herself wasn't just to toot her own horn after all.

"I'm going to tell you a story, dear. Listen up. A young boy was at a graveyard, eyeing a couple of tombstones. Can you guess who that boy was, dear?" Kushina lamely pointed at Orochimaru, causing him to fake happiness, "Splendid! Yes. It was I, Orochimaru, staring at the tombstones of a couple of unfortunate victims, wondering was there a way to avoid all this death. Then, a _voice _spoke to me. It offered me _power, power, and more power, _in exchange for small tokens of its gratitude I must deliver to it."

Kushina's breathing instantly became much more deeper as horror filled her eyes at Orochimaru's explanation. It sounded like he was hinting that he would give her power, power to achieve her wildest dreams, "W-What are the tokens you have to give the voice Orochimaru-san?" Kushina whispered.

Orochimaru grinned sadistically, dropping his deck of cards to push himself up onto all fours while his long tongue slithered out of his mouth, the saliva just oozing off of it. Kushina panicked, frantically shaking her head as Orochimaru crawled toward her, going through the 'table' and all to do so.

"Join me. And I shall show you. I can lend you… power." Orochimaru hissed quietly.

"No! No! No! I'm a momma now, not a ninja! I resigned from being a shinobi! I just want to raise Naruto-chan to be a strong ninja!" Kushina stated pleadingly, trembling as Orochimaru was mere inches away from her face. His hand slowly started stretching its way to her face in super-slow motion mode to her.

Kushina really thought it was the end for her until the alarm bell of sorts woke her up.

"Kushina-chan!"

Her eyes shot wide open, Orochimaru vanishing from her side in an instant and was replaced by the friendly, warm, sisterly presence of her dearest friend to date in Mikoto Uchiha, wearing her black kimono dress with white flowers petals printed all over it and the Uchiha-clan's fan symbol on her back and her blue sandals on her feet.

"Mi-ko-to-chan," Kushina said slowly, rotating her head to the side where Mikoto's hand was on her face. Her knees didn't feel like they had a weight on them either, and her backside felt like it was sinking into something. Wait? She was sitting on her couch not in seiza on the floor in front of Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru caught you in a genjutsu." Mikoto informed her, holding baby Sasuke in her arms with his travel pack on his back. She was worried once she seen Orochimaru of all the people open the door to her carrying Kushina's legacy in his arms.

Kushina's eyes widened at that. Since when? Was it when Orochimaru first spotted her after she saw Ichigo head out on his mission to Kaminari no Kuni? But wouldn't that mean Orochimaru carried her and Naruto back here? Just the thought of Orochimaru's hands on her made Kushina want to throw up as she gave her 'son' a squeeze subconsciously.

She raised an eyebrow at how soft 'Naruto' felt. Sure her blond haired baby was delicate but the way he felt now it was like Kushina could squeeze him together, and that should be a big 'no-no'. Peeking at her precious baby boy, Kushina immediately gasped at what she was holding.

A pillow!

But where was Naruto?

"My baby! My baby! Where's my baby?" Kushina asked Mikoto frantically, the Uchiha-lady turning her head away from Kushina as she pointed her finger to Naruto's location in reluctance. Kushina winced as Orochimaru waved from where he was with an upset Naruto in his arms, "M-my baby… give him back!"

"Awww, the poor little thing's crying. He's probably upset because his 'momma' doesn't have enough power to protect him, and thus is afraid she'll sacrifice herself for him." Mikoto glared at Orochimaru for subtly torturing her best friend like this while tears leaked out of Kushina's eyes.

"He's my baby, not yours." Kushina said in resolution, "Gimme him."

"You know who would be fond of Naruto if she were here?" Orochimaru asked, fingering Naruto's face while Mikoto growled at his stalling. "Your precious 'lady Tsunade-sama' dear," Both ladies looked at Orochimaru curiously, causing him to chuckle insanely, "So young and already he bears a striking resemblance to Tsunade's younger brother, Nawaki Senju."

Kushina's eyes widened at the name of Tsunade's dead brother. It was the reason why the woman already held a look of sadness in her eyes whenever Kushina stated that she'd be the first female hokage due to the fact her brother wanted the same dream and died for it. Tsunade would always tell Kushina that the red head was partially the reason for why she stayed in Konoha up until the time Kushina rose to the rank of chunin.

…Kushina reminded Tsunade so much of Nawaki in terms of personality, she could've been classed as his long lost daughter she was that much like him when she was younger.

"I miss that boy myself," Orochimaru said, sauntering over to Kushina and putting Naruto in her arms much to her relief as she cuddled and kissed him all over his little cheeks for all he was worth with Mikoto looking at Orochimaru strangely.

"Why would you miss Nawaki for?" Mikoto asked.

Orochimaru smiled mysteriously at the blue haired beauty, "Easy. I was his sensei after all." That got both the women to gasp, "Such a shame though. He had real potential. This is why immortality is so greatly important. I hope you understand dear." Kushina nodded in reluctance as Orochimaru ventured his way to the door of Kushina's home, much to the aforementioned red haired beauty's relief until Orochimaru stopped his progress to ask her one last question.

"Oh. Before I go, may I please know where Kurosaki-kun is, my dear?" Orochimaru asked.

"He's on a mission to make some money for himself and me." Kushina told him.

"Ah. How nice. Give him my regards would you?" Orochimaru asked.

"Okay!" Kushina squeaked and Orochimaru smiled as he finally left the house to Kushina's delight. The red head fell on her knees with baby Naruto held protectively up to her bosom. Who knew, he could come back. Or if nothing else Naruto might be hungry and decide he didn't want baby formula, he wanted the real stuff, old school-style!

"Are you okay, Kushina-chan?" Mikoto asked gently, dropping to her knees and putting a hand on her shoulder, "He didn't hurt you did he?"

"No. But he tried to corrupt me into thinking I need power from him by showing me my deepest, darkest fears." Kushina said.

"You don't mean…" Mikoto trailed off.

Kushina nodded affirmatively, "He made me feel so inferior to Minato-san. And used the Kumo nin that kidnapped me all those years ago in one of his pimped out genjutsus."

"That fiend!" Mikoto spat. "He must be trying to coax you into joining his twisted ideals of immortality by playing on your insecurities." Mikoto surmised.

"I dunno, but that sounds like Orochimaru's style." Kushina agreed somewhat.

"Do you think we should inform Hiruzen-sama of this?" Mikoto pondered.

"I dunno, Orochimaru was Hiruzen-sama's student after all. He may not want to believe he's that corrupted." Kushina feared.

"But he'll have to if we tell him what Orochimaru put you through Kushina-chan!" Mikoto argued in return. She did make a good point. Kushina would have to admit that.

"Hmm, okay. But I think we should at least wait for Ichigo-kun to come back from his mission with Scarecrow-chan first." Kushina compromised. "Outta all of us, Ichigo-kun's the most level-headed one. He should be able to break it down to Hiruzen-sama easier then we could."

"Are you just nervous after what Orochimaru put you through?"

"Hmm. Would you be surprised if I said yes?"

"Guess not?" Mikoto sighed. "Okay, I'm here now. How about we feed her children and relax for the night with two bowls of ramen?"

Kushina's eyes lit up, "You don't mean…?"

"I wouldn't let my best friend be by herself after what happened to her you know," Mikoto winked at Kushina, causing Kushina to grin brightly that Mikoto mimicked before the ladies squealed spontaneously.

"Sleepover!"

One can't keep a chirpy woman down for long.

XxX

(With Orochimaru)

'So… Kurosaki-kun's not here then. How unfortunate. I was eagerly anticipating testing out his body. I'll have to wait until he gets back from his mission. Indeed I will. It'll be even longer until I get my hands on Kushina-chan's and Kurosaki's bodies for my experiments,' Orochimaru managed to resist the temptation of bringing out his tongue to wet his lips. He was walking on the streets after all.

"Both of them are too hot…' No pun intended, 'Taking them now would be highly destructive to my plans. Besides, I've still got the sharingan to get from my pet I'm nurturing. Then there's Anko, she's not showing much potential, but she is loyal to me.' He should probably pay the girl a visit while he was at it too. She'd already advanced to the rank of Chunin, and was making good headway in gaining the experience necessary of furthering her rank to Jonin.

Above all of those pawns, there was one Orochimaru found rather interesting. He was still so young and lacked any memory of his life before being found by a kind lady, he was perfect! Orochimaru could mould him into an excellent spy, gathering info from within the leaf while Orochimaru chilled out in his lair somewhere in the world when he left Konoha.

Yes. Things were falling into place nicely, and Kushina would soon see his way as the right way, and before long she'd be referring to him as 'Orochimaru-ojisama'. (Uncle Orochimaru.) He would not rule her with fear, because that wasn't his way of doing things. He'd allow the red head to join him of her own free will.

And she'd join him… because she'd desire his power.

"Kukukukuku. After all is said and done… I. Will. Be. A. Celestial Shinobi." Orochimaru chuckled malevolently.

Immortality would be his.

XxX

(Hours Later)

A cross-country travel usually took up to days or weeks to complete depending on the distance between the two countries, say Hi no Kuni and Tsuchi no Kuni for instance. It could be a tedious journey, especially if someone wanted to get home as fast as he could to inform his leader of his new discovery in Hi no Kuni.

Lucky, his people (some of them) were well known for travelling in the sky.

Takashi was using the flying jutsu quite a few shinobi of Iwagakure no Sato were familiar with in order to dash back home as quickly as possible. He needed to get back anyways, his brothers were dead and the cause of their deaths was heading straight for Kaminari no Kuni. Onoki would want to hear of this.

"Konoha has quite the asset in Ichigo Kurosaki." Takashi said to himself, feeling the air in his face as it did nothing to obstruct the many rocks he could see in the distance. "From the memories I got my Doton Bunshin, it would appear the Uzumaki's name's Kushina. The man did seem rather stubborn in his stance of her. If Onoki-sama chooses to attempt to offer a deal which would see Ichigo come join Iwagakure no Sato's ranks with her, it could prove troublesome."

It was either that or Onoki would have to send Sutorīmu no Dansei (the man of stream) over to Kaminari no Kuni to kill Ichigo. That man was _too _powerful and _too _fast to be left alive. Takashi would even go as far as to say Ichigo single-handedly made Konoha the strongest village in the Elemental Nations, something of which Takashi whole-heartedly believed that Sutorimu no Dansei accomplished for Iwa.

His poor brothers, it was unfortunate. But they knew what they were getting into the day they became ninjas. Ninjas were little more than tools, it must be said.

Takashi dropped to the ground the moment he saw the huge gates of Iwagakure no Sato come into view, all of the buildings looked like they were made out of good old-fashioned Earth natured jutsus. To the people of this prideful village it was the most beautiful site in the world.

"Okay. Now I have to get to Onoki-sama."

He would know what to do, whether it was to kill Ichigo or attempt to recruit the man in any way possible.


End file.
